The Life-Changing Magic of Journalling: My Story and How You Can Start
A few years ago, I was overwhelmed, lost, and struggling to process my emotions. Then I picked up a pen and started journalling. Little did I know, this simple habit would change my life. If you’ve ever felt the same way, this blog will show you how journalling can be the key to healing, self-awareness, and transformation.
Journalling not only lets you pause from the busy world, but it also helps quiet the noise in your mind and focus on understanding your experiences, emotions, and dreams more deeply.
This blog will help you understand the impact of journalling and everything you need to get started.
Journalling Explained: What It Is and Why It Matters
Journalling is a way to regularly write down your thoughts, feelings, experiences, and ideas as a way to self-reflect. I think it’s a bit different from a diary, as a journal can be whatever you make it. But one big difference is that you can use it to go deeper into your inner world rather than just documenting your day.
Journalling helped me heal. It lets me challenge my negative thoughts, reflect on past traumatic experiences, and helps me forgive those who have wronged me in the past. It was a tool I used to step away from my busy world to help me understand why I was reacting and behaving the way I did. I got familiar with my shadow side and my triggers. It helps me understand myself on a much deeper level.
Journalling Essentials: What You Need to Get Started Today
You don’t need much to start journalling—just the basics:
📌 Pen
📌 Notebook or journal
📌 Quiet space with minimal distractions
📌 An intention to be honest
But most importantly, it’s finding what works for you. Some of my friends write in their notes app on their phones. I have others who record themselves and don’t write at all, as writing isn’t something that comes naturally to them.
Make Journalling a Self-Care Ritual
Romanticise the process! Here’s how I make journalling feel special:
- Buy cute pens and a beautiful journal 🎨
- Light candles and play soft background music 🕯️
- Use a fire-crackling video on YouTube for a cosy atmosphere 🔥
Journalling isn’t just writing—it’s an act of self-care and self-love. It helps me purge the day out of my system or set my intentions for the day ahead.
How to Start Journalling (Even If You Don’t Know What to Write)
The trick is just to start. When I am struggling to write anything, and I get writer’s block, I just start by documenting what’s happened in my day or if it’s in the morning, my plans for the day. When I use this technique, I notice that my brain will automatically start talking about any anxieties I have, which then leads me to start reflecting on it – doing that deeper work.
The Life-Changing Benefits of Journalling (And Why You Should Start Today)
Journalling has many benefits but for me, it helped me to:
✅ Process emotions and reduce anxiety
✅ Develop self-awareness and challenge negative thoughts
✅ Heal from past trauma and reframe experiences
✅ Shift my mindset and change limiting beliefs
✅ Manage everyday stress and anxiety
✅ Practice gratitude and be more positive
✅ Be kinder to myself and improve self-love
✅ Let go of resentment and practice forgiveness
Journalling also played a big role in my manifestation journey. Stay tuned for my upcoming blog post on how to manifest your dream life through journalling!
3 Powerful Journalling Methods That Transformed My Life
The types of journalling I do all have one key element: Reflective journalling. This is where you take time to deeply think about your experiences, emotions, and thoughts. Instead of just recording daily events, it focuses on processing, analysing, and learning from your experiences. Here’s the way I did this:
Morning Pages – A Journalling Habit to Clear Your Mind
Every morning, I would wake up and write about my day ahead. I would reflect on anything that may be worrying me. This helped me face my anxiety and helped me explore the reasons why I was feeling the way I did and what my triggers were. I always made sure I validated my feelings but reminded myself that I am safe. I also made sure I wrote a gratitude list to raise my vibration and start my day from a place of love rather than the morning scaries.
Evening Pages – Wind Down, Reflect & Release Stress
This is similar to morning pages but instead, journalling at the end of the day. It helped me reflect on the experiences throughout my day such as my mood, the conversation I had with my boss, the argument with my boyfriend, the win I had on a new project – anything really. I explored my feelings and went deep into them so that I could understand myself better and process my emotions.
Shadow Work – Working With Your Inner Self
Shadow work is getting to know and understand the less desirable parts of ourselves by working with our unconscious minds. It is recognising what they are, learning more about them and becoming aware so that we can see how our shadow affects our day-to-day life, and how it influences our behaviour and actions. It helped me understand myself and accept myself for who I am. It let me show up as my true self. I wrote a full blog post on shadow work that you can read more about here.
Journalling Prompts for Deep Self-Reflection
There are times when you may hit writer’s block. I know I certainly have. Journalling prompts are short questions, ideas or statements that encourage writing and self-reflection. They help guide our thoughts when we’re unsure about what to write about, making it easier to explore emotions, set goals, or gain insight into our lives. There are thousands out there on Google and Pinterest, and you can get prompts for specific things you want to go deeper into such as self-love, growth, and healing prompts to name a few – see below some suggestions from me!
Journalling Prompts For You To Try
These journalling prompts will help you go deep into your inner world, to help you understand yourself better. Some can be triggering for you, so make sure you proceed with caution and don’t journal on anything you’re not ready for.
- Write 10 things you love about yourself. Why? Go deep into it.
- List everything you are grateful for today.
- If money was no object, what would your perfect day look like? What’s stopping you from living it now?
- Reflect on a difficult experience you’ve overcome. How did it shape you?
- What are you most proud of in your life?
- How can you be kinder to yourself? List different ways you can practise self-compassion.
- Write 10 things you dislike about yourself. Why? Where do these beliefs come from?
- Write a letter to someone who hurt you. Be raw and honest. At the end, forgive and let go.
- Write about a painful memory. Feel the emotions fully, then release them.
- List three things you feel ashamed of. Reflect on why and how you can shift your perspective.
- What emotions are you avoiding? What would happen if you let yourself feel them?
- Identify your self-sabotaging behaviours. Why do you do them? How would your life change if you stopped?
Final Thoughts
If I were asked to pick just one thing that transformed my healing journey—it would be journalling.
It changed my life, and it can change yours too. Start today—even if it’s just one sentence. Your future self will thank you.
📩 Comment below and let me know: How you plan to start journalling. 😊
Further reading
- How to journal for mental health: 7 tips to get started by Calm
- How Journaling Can Help You in Hard Times by Kira M.Newman for Greater Good Magazine
Sign up for my mailing list
Love this kind of content? Get more straight to your inbox! Sign up for my mailing list here.