Blog #1 WARNING! Journal contains ghosts & monsters.

The smell of a brand-new journal, I open it at its center and break the spine. I am instantly comforted by this; I look down at my newest journal and see endless possibilities for writing. Journaling to me has been more than just a hobby, it’s a passion. I started writing in cheap dollar store composition books in elementary school and just recently upgraded to higher quality journals from Archer & Olive. 

From writing short stories about ghosts and monsters to using my journaling as a coping skill to keep the ghosts and monsters out. Journaling started as a hobby but has grown be a part of my self-care and I do it for my emotional and mental health wellness.

Journaling has been known to be incredibly beneficial in managing stress and coping with mental health issues like depression and anxiety. One of the best parts of journaling is reliving the best parts of your life as you write about the experience in detail, being completely honest and transparent with yourself. When writing during the dark ugly periods of your life and rereading it months later you’re able to identify triggers, access what emotions and thoughts were affecting you the most and learn from them. Another thing that has really drawn me into keeping lifelong journals is that there are no rules in what you write, how you write, how often you write or even how organized/disorganized you are in your journals. There was a period of my life prior to my sobriety where I would be under the influence and so much of my journals look like chicken scribble, I noticed that while I was spiraling under the influence so was my writing. I journaled in a SPIRAL, picking a corner to start in and spinning my journal like a mad woman as I jotted ideas down from an epiphany I was having about life to a grilled cheese sandwich that I was craving. 

Image Source, me circa 2016

It’s safe to say that rereading these journal entries provided the push I needed to finally get sober. I have encouraged everyone in my life to journal, my husband, my best friend and even my older sister. The benefits to journaling are endless. 

A short list of journaling benefits listed by The University of Rochester Medical Center is as follows:

- Manage anxiety.

- Reduce stress.

- Cope with depression.

As humans we are created to have so many incredible thoughts and emotions, but our fault is naming them, organizing them, remembering them and managing them in times of struggle. We all falter in this life and stray away from positive coping skills because life gets so overwhelming that even the thought of picking up a pencil and writing about your day seems like the most impossible thing. I offer a single thought of advice, pick up the pencil and jot down a sentence and remember the feeling or helplessness in this situation, I’ve done it a million times. Unfinished thoughts and scattered lists remind us that even when we are struggling, one small attempt of effort shows that we are all still…trying. Journaling may not be for you, but I encourage you to try, make the attempt and if you feel like you failed afterwards, please know that you did just the opposite. You succeeded in trying.

Write a short story about ghosts and monsters or fill a journal with your inner monsters and the ghosts of our pasts and failures. 

Image Source, me circa 2022

Whatever you do, pick up a pencil and make the attempt. For now, I’ll continue writing in my journal until the spine bursts from overuse and then I will purchase a new one and start all over again, because if I do anything for my inner child, it’s going to be to write and let her out in an outpouring into the pages before me.