Why Journaling is Your Best Tool for Improved Emotional Wellbeing

When it comes to improving your emotional wellbeing and making your emotional health 
a priority, there are many tools at your disposal. But among them, using a journal is 
probably one of the very best. It is easy to use, inexpensive, and extremely versatile. 

Here are some different ways to use a journal on your own emotional wellness journey.


You Can Acknowledge and Process Your Emotions

One of the biggest emotional wellbeing benefits you get from using a journal is not only 
being able to become more aware of your emotions, but actually learn how to start 
processing them. Before you can process your emotions, you do need to acknowledge 
them. If you have a tendency to hide away from your emotions out of fear, then the 
journal can feel much safer and more private for you. 


You Work Through Traumas and Other Challenges

Any time you have an emotional trauma in your life, no matter how mild or severe it may 
seem, your emotions will be put through the ringer. It can often feel like you aren’t able 
to process it and deal with it on your own, but with a journal, you have a little extra help.

You have a safe space where you can write down how you feel or think about that 
traumatic event, what challenges you faced, and how you are feeling about it now. 
Nobody ever has to read what you write in your journal, so it is easier to be honest with 
yourself and use it as a tool for your road to emotional healing.


It Provides You With Self-Reflection and Clarity

Journaling is a wonderful tool when it comes to self-reflection and gaining more clarity 
into your life, your thoughts and feelings, and your emotions. Not just for your motional 
wellbeing, but improving your life and mindset as a whole.

Even when you don’t intend to, you find a lot of clarity from writing in a journal. This is 
especially true when you choose a stream of consciousness style of journaling, where 
you write down anything that is on your mind, with no rules or prompts to use.


Journaling is a Safe and Healthy Distraction Activity

Sometimes what you really need is simply something to distract your mind and not 
focus so much on one thing that is weighing heavily on you. This doesn’t mean you try 
to hide away your emotions and never deal with them, but just to give yourself some 
time to relax until you’re ready to deal with them. 

It is a healthy way to distract your mind as you work through how you are feeling, until 
you can come back to those emotions and get to the root of what is actually going on 
inside your head.


You Can Sit With Your Emotions Instead of Reacting

With a journal, you can also start learning how to sit with your emotions, instead of 
immediately reacting. By writing down how you feel and getting to the bottom of WHY 
you feel that way, this exercise alone helps you to take a pause before immediately 
reacting and going down a negative thoughts spiral. 

When you immediately react to how you feel, it is often based on your fears or limiting 
beliefs, and not realistically what is happening. This can lead to a lot of regret, guilt, and 
shame. It is much healthier for your emotional wellbeing to sit with your emotions by just 
writing them down and considering where they are coming from.


Journaling Helps to Reduce Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are both very common and it doesn’t mean anything is wrong with 
you. But there is no denying that it can make having a healthy emotional wellbeing a 
little more difficult. Using a journal every day to process those emotions helps 
tremendously when you struggle with stress, anxiety, or other mental health disorders. 

Many people find that just writing about their day or what is going through their mind at 
the time can help with their anxiety. You can use the journal to figure out your own 
anxiety triggers, and discover what in your life might be making your stress worse. Even 
if it doesn’t resolve these issues, having an outlet to express what you are going 
through is never a bad thing.

