How Journaling Helps You Manage Stress Successfully?

There are so many people who claim that journaling has helped them lessen their stress levels and become more relaxed. As we all know, stress is one of the main causes of many mental health conditions like anxiety or even depression. So, if stress management journaling techniques work, they can also pretty much nip it in the bud and prevent mental health conditions altogether.

So, what are the benefits of stress management journaling? Let’s find out here as we dig deeper into some journaling benefits.

Stress Management Journaling Techniques and Benefits

• Helps You Get Away From it All

Have you ever been so stressed that you just wanted to run away from it all? You know, just escape and shut down for even a little while? Of course, we all know that doing so isn’t possible unless you want to get in trouble with all your responsibilities. So, the next best thing is actually journaling.

When you write in your journal, you’re actually escaping into your thoughts and not really having a care about the world. With a journal, you won’t need to listen to anything outside of your journal. You can get away from your phone, the television, your computer, and even some people. It’s your own way of unplugging. Unplugging from the world can help reduce stress and is one of the best journaling benefits on the list.

• Gives You an Outlet

Everyone needs an outlet so that they can let go of stress— and journaling happens to be one of the best there is. In fact, the University of Rochester Medical Center states in their report that journaling is very effective in taking away stress because it helps you express yourself and your feelings. This in itself plays the role of an outlet wherein you can let out all your pent-up frustrations as well as some of your feelings. This is why stress management journaling is a really common and popular practice.

• Helps You Appreciate What You Have

One of the best ways for you to introduce stress management journaling is by taking notes of your blessings. The more appreciative you have of the things you have, the happier you’ll be. Obviously, the less stressed you’ll be as well. With that, you’ll be reminded of the things that you can be grateful for.

In fact, there’s a study that shows that gratitude does improve psychological health. According to Robert Emmons, Ph.D., there is a connection between gratitude and improvement of psychological health. Thus, the more that you’re grateful for something, the happier you’ll be. Of course, this will help lessen your stress as well.

• Helps You Get to the Root Problem of Your Stress

Sometimes, you can’t relieve your stress because you don’t exactly know where it is coming from. There are times that you do, but there are also types of stresses that come from more deep-rooted problems. If you write down your problems in your journal, there is a big chance that you’ll be able to track down what the root problem is.

Think about it, the more you write stuff about yourself, the more records you have to refer back to. When you have something to refer back to, then you’ll be able to reflect more. Stress management journaling helps open your mind to new perspectives and views that you’ve never probably thought about before. This increases your self-awareness, which can also help you get to the main problem.

Writing a Stress-Relief Journal

Now that you know about the various journaling benefits, the next thing to do is know how to use stress management journaling to your benefit. If you’re a beginner, you can just follow some of these tips:

• Get a notebook and pen or open up an online journal.
• Go to a quiet place wherein no one can disturb you so that you just concentrate.
• Set a certain time of the day that is dedicated to just journaling.
• Write down the individual date per day and just start writing whatever you feel.
• Start with your daily activities then try writing down your feelings and reflections.
• You may also write about what makes you happy, sad, scared, disappointed, or angry.

Take note that there aren’t any rules when it comes to stress management journaling. You don’t even need to worry about your grammar or punctuation at the moment. Just make it a free flow type of thing.

Conclusion

Are you feeling anxious or irritable quite often? Do you think that the rigors of life have worn you out? Then it means your stress levels are probably getting a bit high. Maybe it’s time that you had yourself an outlet so that you can blow off some of your steam. Fortunately, stress management journaling is known to be one of the best outlets that anyone can have in order to relieve stress.

Journaling has a lot of benefits when it comes to freeing your stress levels. All of that is backed up by actual studies and research reports. Hence, if you haven’t started journaling yet, why wait? Now’s the best time to start.