I can preach the benefits of journaling to you all day and all night but at the of the day, it’ll mean nothing to you if you’re not somebody that values growth, internal exploration, and similar subject matter.

I and thousands of other blogs can tell you all the mental health benefits, post graphs, and cite mental health-related studies. But my goal isn’t to prove to you that journaling is probably the best thing ever. Nope. It’s to help you see and experience that for yourself.

Journaling isn’t just some mental health practice I want you to adopt because it’s cute and “self-care” is trendy right now. It’s deeper than that.

I want you to adopt journaling as a practice because you are ready to grow. Because you are ready to explore yourself. Because you are ready to shift your mindset around into something that benefits you rather than it being something that holds you back.

I want you to start journaling because you are ready to operate from a place in you that understands your inner world is the foundation for everything else you do. Meaning, that everything you want to achieve is going to require some internal work. You’re going to have to confront all the thought processes that hold you back from your goals. That’s what’s most powerful about journaling.

See, when you’re writing, you’re thinking. But you’re not thinking purposelessly (as we humans tend to do) instead, you are thinking with a mission in mind. When you are brain dumping, you are at the very least thinking more attentively because you can only write/type so fast.

How do you think that’s going to serve you?

What do you think happens when you slow your mind down?

Thoughts and emotions feel less threatening and less impactful when they are put on paper and left alone. When you’re brain dumping, the thoughts and feelings leave you and go to the page. It’s like your inner world is being unclogged.

But not everything you unclogged is junk. Some of it is useful, and all of it has valuable information. When you go back to read your journal, you’ll see that. You’ll discover something, notice what you’ve been stuck on, or you’ll realize you’ve grown past something.

Your entries will show you a pattern, a mood, how long an issue has been on your mind, how passionate you’ve been about a particular subject lately, and more. I cannot stress how important this is.

You can look at everything on your body in a mirror except for your mind. That’s what a journal is for.

You can check your appearance and decide on what you want to change, keep, or highlight. But how do you do that internally?

You might think you know yourself well and that you know what’s going on inside but how do you know that when you’ve never gone exploring?

How do you know you’re growing when you don’t do so intentionally?

I don’t believe maturity comes with age, I believe it comes with effort.

Start Journaling. ❤️