The Benefits of Journaling and Writing Things Down

Journaling, and writing in general, offers awesome benefits that is always available for us to enjoy.

When you’ve got too much on your lap and you don’t know what else to do, I suggest you bring your emotions to a rest using the power of writing your feelings down. I tell you, it works wonders (at least, for me).

People like me who gets easily bombarded with thoughts gets distracted easily. Since I usually accommodate requests from work, from ministry and from people, I accommodate emotional toil and relational stress as well. So I need to unload from time to time.

This is where writing comes in.

Benefit 1: It focuses your thoughts

Social media feed has a lot to offer, but we can only take much. And with the information overload and screen fatigue we are experiencing on a daily basis, we desperately need to learn and re-learn focus. Think of a subject you want to write about. Jot down your ideas. Process your thoughts. As you enter the realm of whatever you’re writing about, for a moment you will forget of the stressful social media trend that’s bugging you for quite some time. Take time to narrow down your thoughts. It doesn’t matter what will you write about. Just write, and focus.

Benefit 2: It frees your mind

Writing is freedom. Sometimes we are too ashamed to unload our emotions to people for fear of judgment. However, your pen and paper won’t mind. Write about your fears and worries. Write about how you feel about the people around you. Write about your plans and desires. Write just about anything – even your rants and complaints! Free your mind from the burden of keeping it all by yourself. Write truthfully, without inhibitions. You may even cry! It’s your space. However, where you write – public post or private journal – is another topic.

Benefit 3: It fills your drained energy

Our phone gets drained over continued use and so is our mind. Fact is, we all charge differently once we get drained. Since writing helps in focusing your thoughts and releasing your unnecessary burdens, it lends us the power as well to fill us up. Writing is recharging! I get pumped up when I write reflectively. Some writers I know gets thrilled when they write poems or short stories. After long days of work or studies, doing what you love is a bliss. If writing energizes you, fill yourself up!

Benefit 4: It has the power to “freeze” time

One benefit of writing is it brings back memories. Most of us tends to forget easily. But like photographs, when we read back our previous posts or journal entries, memories flash back and we recapture the joy, the pain, the lesson, and the people involved. Imagine if there are no chronicles in the past, if history transpired without any written and published trace, we will not have any idea how people managed to live in life pre-technology. Writing freezes and encapsulates our present time and makes it available for the future, so our future selves can go back to what transpired in the past. Am I making sense?

I know some people are more passionate in writing, blogging and journaling than me. They have a lot more to say about how writing empowers them. Indeed, journaling and writing has its benefits. But in my humble stint in writing, I have personally experienced why famed writers claim that the pen is mightier than the sword.