Journaling is a wonderful activity for your personal development. It forces you to reflect on your life regularly. It also helps you become more aware of what’s challenging you when you write it down on paper.
Journaling can also be a great way to record your life and see how you’ve grown and developed over the years.
You might be surprised three years from now when you look back on today.
3 Awesome benefits of journaling:
Journaling can help you solve complex challenges
When you write the issue that’s on your mind on paper, your brain begins to work on a solving the challenge and suddenly a solution becomes obvious. The ability to re-examine the issue from a different perspective can make all the difference. I’ve noticed many times the ways I am getting in my own way when I review what I’ve written.
Journaling can help you increase your mental clarity
One of the best times to lean on your journal is when you’re filled with indecision about what action to take. Many things become clearer when you can get them down in writing. If I have a lot of thoughts swirling in my head or feel extra anxious a braindump really helps! A braindump is when you simply write all of the thoughts on the paper without judgment.
How to do a “braindump”:
-
-
- Get your notebook and open to a blank page
- Set a timer for 5-15 mins
- Start writing everything on your mind. Do not judge what you’re writing. Don’t reread what your writing until the timers up. Keep writing.
- When the timer stops, reread what you wrote and assess it.
-
What you might notice is that, after the first few minutes, what you’re writing starts getting deeper. This is because your digging up things near the subconscious. You may uncover some beliefs you didn’t know were there.
This technique will help you clear your mind and go deep into what’s REALLY holding you back.
Journaling can help you validate your progress
Sometimes we feel like we’re spinning our wheels and not making genuine progress. When you’re feeling this way, go back and review your old journal entries. You’ll be amazed at how much progress you’ve made since then. And you’ll also probably realize that you’re taking huge strides right now, too!
Saying all of that, it can be tough to get started.
You might be wondering:
- What do you write about?
- Should you use a notebook, word processor or something fancy like a leather-bound journal?
- How do you keep people from looking at it?
- And much more
6 Tips to Help You Get Started with Journaling!
How to Start Journaling for Introvert Women
First, Choose your medium
It really doesn’t matter where you do your journaling record your life; all have their advantages and disadvantages. Just choose something that works for you.
I believe notebooks are the better choice. Many of us spend all day on the computer. Journaling in a notebook gives you a chance to manually write something. The brain science says that when you write with your hands it creates grooves in your brain due to specifically thinking the thing a few times because of the relay process between your brain and your hand.
Computers can also be distracting; you might sit down to do your journaling and end up scrolling on FB.
Keep it short
Of course, you can write as much as you want. But if you release the pressure to write epic daily entries and keep it short, you’re more likely to do it regularly. Even just a few thoughts, ideas, or sentences can be enough to capture the essence of what happened in your day.
If you’re wondering what to write about in your journal, journaling prompts can help! Journaling prompts are questions or ideas to get the writing process started. They are good for introvert women who need a prompt in order to start. Journaling prompts can cover literally everything and anything!
Here are a few articles I wrote that share some awesome journaling prompts for either self-discovery or working through anxiety!
- 5 Journaling Prompts for Anxiety during Covid
- 21 Journaling Prompts for Self-Discovery
- 20 Journal Prompts for Self-Love for Introvert Women
Another thing you can write in your journal are you daily confidence affirmations. When you write them you ingrain them deeper into your subsconscious!
Build a daily habit and routine
If you use a notebook, keep it by your bed or the coffee pot; that way you won’t miss it. This is how you build it into your morning or evening routine. Set a reminder on your phone. It makes more sense to do it at the end of the day as you reflect on your day, but any time is better than never. Choose a time and stick to it.
Never miss more than one day
Things come up, and it’s easy to miss a day here and there. It becomes a problem when you miss more than one day in a row, because before you know it you might end up missing five days. Be consistent by building a habit and never skipping a day. It can be difficult to go back and fill in the blanks at a later date. Use a habit-tracker to keep track if you need to!
If you do forget and skip a couple of days, rely on your records. You can look back at your calendar or planner and your emails to jog your memory about how the days were spent.
Track your progress toward your goals
Your journal can also be an awesome accountability buddy. List the goals that are most relevant to you in your life currently. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight, mention related victories, missteps, and your weight fluctuations. If you’re trying to earn an extra $1,000 this month, keep a running tally of your progress.
Keep your journal private and secure
If you believe that someone else might see your journal, you might be hesitant to be completely open when writing in it. This is one area that computers really shine; with a decent password, it would take the CIA to get into your journal. A simple locked drawer can work well, too. This can also be a practice with setting proper boundaries and letting people know this is sacred/personal space. Doing so will reduce the likelihood of someone venturing inside.
Alright let’s recap.
Journaling has the power to change your life but only if you do it. In this article we discussed the 3 benefits to journaling:
- Solve complex challenges
- Gain clarity
- Validate your progress
And we also discussed 6 tips for getting started with journaling:
- Choose your medium
- Keep it short
- Build a daily habit
- Never miss a day
- Track your progress
- Keep it private
When you rely on your brain to specifically remember and process it causes a lot of stress and overwhelm which can cause you to get stuck. When you journal, you relieve this pressure which allows your brain to do what it does best, solve problems.
If you’re having trouble with deciding what to write in your journal check out my new freebie 9 Journaling Prompts for Self Doubt. These journaling prompts will help you have something to write in your journal and have you journaling in no time.
