Three key benefits of daily journaling
In a world dominated by digital distractions, journals are making a bold comeback. Find out five benefits you can look forward to.
Searches for ‘journal prompts’ – inspiring questions and ideas to spark self-reflection – have jumped 35% in the last three months, now at 186K per month. Not On The High Street, the platform championing over 5,500 curated UK small brands, has also seen a 42% increase in journal sales compared to last year.
To understand the rising importance of journaling, Not On The Highstreet spoke with Dr. Sham Singh, a holistic psychiatrist at WINIT Clinic, and Rachel Smith, creator of Give Yourself Kindness, to delve into why journaling has become a cornerstone of modern self-care.
These are the most popular months of the year for buying a new journal
Not On The High Street sales data reveals key spikes throughout the year: January sees a surge for New Year’s resolutions, February and March around Mother’s Day, and June and July see a rise in wedding-related journaling. December also sees a notable increase as journals become a popular Christmas gift.
Their top sellers include travel, pregnancy, wedding gift, and wellness journals.
Three key benefits of daily journaling
Here are three important benefits you can look forward to when daily journaling as a wellness practice.
1) Journaling helps increase mindfulness and emotional intelligence
Journaling will significantly help increase mindfulness and emotional intelligence. While journaling, you are actively involved with your thoughts and feelings. With emotional intelligence, such knowledge of your patterns and responses greatly enhances your ability to empathise with others. It also allows for reflection that helps you approach situations sometimes with a lot more insight and perspective.
2) Journaling can lower your levels of anxiety and stress
Gratitude journaling is essential to mental wellbeing. It diverts attention from negative experiences to positive ones. This practice has been related to lower levels of stress and anxiety, elevated mood, and even sleep quality. It develops a positive attitude, leading to long-term resilience and significant life satisfaction.
3) Journaling can help calm spiralling thoughts and boost motivation
A grounding technique to manage anxiety is to write about the present moment, using all of your senses-for example, What do I see, hear, and feel right now? This can help decrease spiralling thoughts. For depression, reflective journaling highlighting small wins or things to look forward to can help shift perspective and encourage motivation.
How to stick at daily journaling
With the New Year approaching, are you considering journaling as part of your resolution? Let’s look at some the common mistakes that lead people to give up – and how to overcome them.
Find a type of journaling that works for you
Not everyone enjoys writing, and this might put them off. But there are alternative ways to journal beyond just writing. For people who might find writing overwhelming, there’s also audio and video journaling. The most important thing is to focus on the process, not perfection. Journaling is about self-expression, not creating a masterpiece.
Find YOUR routine – don’t feel trapped by consistency
Make missing a day is okay. Often when we miss one day, we can be too hard on ourselves and judge ourselves for failing to show up. And that becomes the dominant feeling, making it easier to miss another day too. Instead, try to recognise that missing a day is normal. Give yourself a pass with no judgement, be kind to yourself and remind yourself that it’s hard. This compassion will help you pick the journal up again the next time.
Don’t feel that your journal needs to ‘look’ right
The most common mistake is thinking it has to look a certain way. There’s no right or wrong way to journal. There is no fixed amount that you ‘need’ to write and it doesn’t have to look beautiful or have ‘perfect’ sentences. Journaling is a tool for you – no one else needs to understand it.
To summarise: there’s no fixed way of journaling or amount of time you need to spend doing it – find a routine that works for you and stick to it, but don’t feel trapped. Some days, you may want to write less, and other days, you may have more to say.
