Sitting with a notebook and journalling is the last idea that usually comes to mind when you experience a high-stress level. How jotting your thoughts on paper can help reduce stress?It can help in many ways; here are a few of them:

Expressing and acknowledging emotions

First, journaling helps combat stress because while writing, you are becoming aware of various emotions you’ve been experiencing. You make sense of them. For example, when you become aware that you are frustrated because lack of precise tasks at work, you can chat with your manager and have better peace of mind that you are fulfilling your responsibilities well.

Identifying stressors

Keeping a daily journal can help you identify the stress sources in your life. These might be specific events, people, or situations. For example, there are certain life events, which are very stressful, and these include change — job change, moving to a different city, and so on. These are part of life and are not apparent to everyone as the primary stressors, so sometimes, acknowledging the source of stress is already helpful. If the reason behind the stress is certain people whose presence raises your blood pressure immediately, sometimes it is healthy to reduce contact with them.

Developing coping strategies

Journaling is one of the coping strategies, but by putting your thoughts on paper and trying to find solutions, you may come up with surprising coping strategies for managing stress. You can also self-reflect on how any coping strategy works and choose the best one. Be it doing yoga exercises, running, or painting with watercolors, via journaling, you can find the best way to get rid of stress from your life.

Keeping track of your progress

These could be entries related to anything, but I suggest keeping track of events and activities related to the source of stress. For example, if you are paying off debts and are stressed about it, each entry about money paid in towards your debts, or journalling about ways to get an extra income source, could reduce your stress — you will see you have an active attitude towards the problem. Nothing is worse than apathy. It is much better to face a particular situation.

Identifying patterns in your behavior

Keeping a journal can help identify patterns in thinking and behavior that may contribute to stress. For example, if you are always late, which causes problems at work, becoming aware of your behavior, which you can change, can lead to a better workplace atmosphere, a lack of arguments with the manager, and a happier life.

Tool in a therapy

You can bring your journal to therapy sessions and share some of your experiences with your therapist to receive better guidance and support. Sometimes our thoughts are important, but we forget them. Keeping track of important issues can help in the therapy process.

When you experience stress or difficult emotions, it can be hard to understand what’s happening. Writing about such experiences helps clarify thoughts and feelings and gives a better understanding of what’s causing the distress. I am a big fan of journaling, and yes, when I get hit by stress, I grab a notebook and pen. And guess what? It helps! In one of the following articles, I will provide a few ways to deal with problems on paper.