We all know that you can explore yourself, grow, and change at any time. But, you cannot do any of that without feeling free and safe to be open.

Nobody gets to read your journal but you (I hope). That means you have a place to freely and genuinely express yourself. You can be honest and you can trust that you will be understood.

You won’t be judged unless you judge yourself.

You can have the best circle of friends and family in the world but you won’t open up to them with the same level of authenticity as when you’re being open with yourself.

We are all at least a little bit guarded, that’s natural. Having a journal gives you a literal space to be open without any fear. There is no need to be careful and choosey with your words. In a journal, it’s just you and you.

Keeping a journal means you get to go on a solo adventure into your inner world. You get to redecorate the planet, remove what you don’t want, and keep the rest while adorning your favorite elements. Authenticity would be your metaphorical spacesuit.

I hope you’re following me here. 😂

If you feel opening up in front of a therapist isn’t for you, at least try being open with yourself. ❤️

It doesn’t matter how mature you think you are, you’re still a person and emotions can overwhelm anybody.

Sometimes they can go unnoticed. They can hide in the form of an unhelpful worldview that sets the foundation for your mood and then goes on to influence all of your feelings…

It’s a bit hard to make decisions and process all of your emotions while you’re sitting in the thick of trauma, drama, and the general “ugh” of it all… That makes navigating out of those situations difficult, but journaling gives you a sort of “bird’s eye view”.

(In case you haven’t noticed, I love metaphors).

I’ll use traffic to put this in perspective for you.

What do you do when you’re stuck in traffic? You’d pull out your phone and check other routes. (Or maybe that’s just me being impatient. 😜) Your phone shows you the road from a birds-eye view, letting you see your surroundings and details of the area.

It’s a less overwhelming viewpoint compared to seeing nothing but the car in front of you with a stranger’s silhouette in the driver’s seat.

From that viewpoint, you can see solutions and other options.

You following me?? Journaling is the same way.

Once you’ve put the issue to paper, when you read over it, you are reading over it from a bird’s eye view. You will consider angles that you haven’t considered before and you will naturally feel more secure.

You’ll get a similar feeling of reassurance that there is a solution, similar to how a good ol’ navigation app makes you feel when you’re in traffic. ❤️

Ugh. ❤️ . This is one thing I really love about journaling. Let’s start with memories.

If the feeling of a social media memories popping up on your feed is something you love, then imagine how you’d feel when you relive your own words and emotions from an event you wrote about.

The “omg I remember this!” feeling of Facebook memories has nothing on a journal.

As these moments age, they will become more valuable. Journals age like Angela Bassett… Like fine, fine, wine 😍😍

First of all, a journal’s memories are authentic. It’s written with the intention of satisfying yourself in the future. It’s not something that was posted in the journal with an audience of acquaintances in mind.

There’s no editing or getting the caption right, all that’s in there is your raw feelings ❤️.

Besides, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? So what are the words? Store your memories in a journal so your loved ones can have them when you’re gone. That’s much more valuable than any number of digital hearts!

Your old self will be thanking your current self for putting your memories in something you can protect rather than all of them being stored away in a Metaverse that’s not guaranteed to be there for you in the future…

As far as the lessons go…..

One thing I like to do in my journal reflects on what I learn. I feel doing this really bakes those lessons in. This could be something super practical like what I learn from writing, blogging, and podcasting to deeper concepts such as the value of authenticity and principles that help me work on my perfectionism.

Doing this comes in handy.

It’s not difficult to forget to take your own advice, so when you’re going for a scroll in your journal, it’s great to be reminded of those important perspectives you’ve forgotten.

Now, that’s just some of what journaling does for you. As you continue to write, you will discover more. It really is like exploring space — there is literally an infinite amount of wonder to discover. ❤️.

Thanks for the read, and happy journaling. ❤️