I’ve been a journaling junkie pretty much all my adult life, but it wasn’t recently that I learned how keeping a journal can help overcome stress. For some, that might seem like common sense, but for others, myself included, dot-connecting was a bit elusive.
We are aware that the harmful effects of stress affect almost everyone at some time in their lives, but how many people do you know that seek out journaling as an alternative remedy? For some people, stress intolerance is more of a genetic issue, and for others, it could be physical, relational, or circumstantial. Whatever the reason you are stressed, congratulations on recognizing it and wanting to do something about it.
Cold stress can stem from unprocessed trauma and emotional blockage. Expressing yourself through writing can serve as a superhighway to healing you emotionally and psychologically. The mere act of putting it down on paper can help you process all the emotions of the actual events that occurred. You can get free from these traumatic entanglements.
Here are some excellent ways to get you started on your journaling journey to overcome stress.
Write Daily for 5 to 15 Minutes
Don’t underestimate the strategy of baby steps whenever you are beginning a new habit. When we learn a new truth, we often want to jump in full steam ahead and start applying the technique on steroids. The problem with this is that if we are in the beginning stages of forming a new habit, we can get overwhelmed by the notion of speed and perfection. If we put both pedals to the metal, we will achieve better, more significant, faster results. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Life is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. You could burn out too quickly if you overdo it before you’re in good shape. So slow down; this time is for you and you alone. No one checks whether you faithfully wrote 10,000 words in your journal today. Take a deep breath, and then take your time to process the necessary feelings and emotions and break free. The important thing about journaling is to remember that daily writing over a longer time frame will work much better. It often takes a lot of soul-searching and insight to figure out why you are dealing with stress and how to overcome it. Five to 10 minutes daily will allow you the space you need to process much better when you’re just starting.
Write about Your Worries
I have been doing this for Eva….way before I even knew this was a thing. I come from a long line of worriers. As a result, worry would be my go-to emotion. I had to work very hard to retrain my brain to overcome this. Journaling has been a fantastic tool to help me overcome the stress of worry. If this is you, I suggest you go straight to the problem and write about your worries. Describe them from every single angle you can come up with. The more descriptive, the better. Just listing your worries relieves your brain from carrying around the mental list. Once you get them down on paper and quell some unnecessary or even unrealistic fears, your brain can find the space it needs to receive answers. The cool thing is that now you have a written record, and you can even go back and see how far you’ve come and how much you’ve grown.
Describe What Is Happening Now
So…this is another goodie. Put out of your mind what you did, what someone else did, or what can be done – for now, just write about precisely what is happening right now and where you stand with the issue causing your stress. This practice causes you to live in the present moment. It’s called mindfulness for a reason. When you practice writing (living) in the present moment without regrets of the past or anxiety about the future, your MIND can become FULL of peace and solutions.
Document the Worst That Can Happen
This one is an anecdote that’s scary but very effective. It’s creepy because who wants to think of the worst-case scenario? It’s effective because usually, the worst thing that can happen isn’t going to happen at all. Deep down inside, you know this. Here’s a ridiculous example: You are stressed about going to the dentist. Maybe it’s because you had a less-than-favorable experience as a kid. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Will getting your teeth cleaned, pulled, or x-rayed kill you? Probably not.
As you look at the situation, one thing that often causes stress is the unknown or the “worst thing” that you think can happen. Describe this worst thing, but make it realistic (not like my fun example above). For example, don’t write down the possibility of an airplane falling on your wedding party. That might not be realistic. However, bad weather, rude in-laws, and other issues may be. Seeing it on paper can help you to overcome your stress.
Document the Best That Can Happen
This is the fun part. You get to practice extreme optimism. Get serious by thinking about and writing about the best (realistic) outcome of the situation you’re stressing about because that can happen, too, no matter how crazy it might seem. A potentially horrible situation can end up being a blessing in surprise. Once you write it all down, you can begin to include potential action steps and tactics to achieve this best-case scenario so that you can experience the best. The critical takeaway is to get it out of your head and onto paper and see what can happen.
Document What Is Happening
As you are writing, be very careful to be realistic and honest. Other than when you imagine the best and worst, ensure that you also document the reality of what is happening to you right now. That way, you can narrow down identifying the stress-inducing situation.
It may be surprising that writing can accomplish so much, but if you get into journaling to help you overcome stress with the right attitude and a specific goal, you can achieve a lot. The important thing is that you need to be honest with yourself to identify the true underlying causes of your stress. This way, your actions to overcome it will be most effective.
Be well + prosper,
Elaine xx