Here, you don’t have to be “fine” all the time. In your journal, you can be completely honest about how you are feeling. You don’t have to worry about being misunderstood or judged. Release that pressure and be truly honest with how you are feeling.
You don’t need to be a good writer or to have the answers to start journaling. All you need to do is get started and be honest with yourself. Don’t try to make it perfect. Journaling is about your emotions, about how you feel. It’s about helping you find your voice and find yourself.
Journaling is liberating. In your journal, you don’t need to perform. You don’t need to fake a smile or to be politically correct in what you are saying. You don’t need to be kind or grateful. There is no pressure to do anything, no expectations.
It’s your private space to say everything that you have ever felt like saying but thought you couldn’t.
I was part of the people who were told that they should start journaling, but I had never actually given it a try. I would roll my eyes and wonder, “ What is journaling actually going to do for me?”
Until one day, I started writing. And let me tell you, it was freeing. I regretted not having started sooner. Journaling wasn’t what I thought it was. It brought me an outlet to put my thoughts and quiet my mind. Writing helped me feel, process my emotions, heal my trauma, and my limiting beliefs.
It helped me grow to become better, more comfortable, more confident, and at peace with myself.
If you are like me and have heard about journaling before but never actually given it a try, let me help you get started.
Give it a try for a couple of weeks and see how you feel. And don’t worry, I’m going to coach you through it and help guide your writing so you can already start seeing benefits from it in your first couple of weeks.
You don’t need to have an exact plan or an exact idea of what you want to write about to start journaling. Start with what you are feeling, start with one word or something small from your day.
There’s no expectation with journaling. There are no publishing deadlines. Some days you might write for an hour, while some days you might feel like you have nothing to write about. And that’s okay.
Don’t worry if it’s not grammatically correct or if it doesn’t look good; it’s for you and you only.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Write about what you want to understand, something you want to change, something you want to feel.
Here are a couple of questions to help you get started. You can choose the ones that speak the most to you and start writing.
What does healing look or feel like to you? What does being healed mean?
Try to picture a day in your life when you would be healed. You have a healthy relationship with your body, yourself, food, and the people around you. What would it look like? How would you talk to yourself? Write this section as if it were already happening?
Write a love letter to your body. Be honest and kind. This is not about how it looks, but about what it has done for you, what it has accomplished, been through, and survived. Think about the pain, the challenges, the pressure, and everything else. Then, thank your body for still being here and for what it has done for you.
Write about yourself, about all the roles that you are playing (mother, partner, friends, coworker, etc.). Then try to write and describe yourself without it, without those roles. Who are you without it? When you are alone and no one is watching? What do you want, dream about, or are you scared of? When no one needs you, who are you still?
Write a letter to your future self in a couple of years from now. What is she doing or would she want you to know? Is she proud of something? Let her talk to you with love, reassurance, and confidence. Let her tell you what your future will be.
You are not writing for anyone else but yourself, so don’t worry about making it appealing to read. It can be raw, it can be messy, as long as it feels truthful to you.
There is no specific way to journal. No specific guidelines that you need to follow. There’s no wrong way to journal. If it works for you, that’s the right way to do it.
Even if you don’t feel lighter when you start writing, be consistent. Keep writing. Healing is messy and isn’t linear. It can take time for you to get the insight and the honesty you need from your writing.
After you are done, here’s where it gets tricky and where a lot of people go wrong with journaling. Writing alone won’t be enough. It’s a great outlet for your thoughts and emotions, but if you are looking to change something in your life, you need action.
So, after spending some time pondering those prompts, you need to put your mind and body into action. What did you discover through that writing? What do you need to take action on?
Once you understand the path to move forward, you need to execute it.
And if you need help figuring it out, you can always book a chat with me.
Give it a try tonight. Start with one question and see what you can come up with.
No spam. Just real support to help you heal, reset, and feel like yourself again.
