Using Your Diary as Therapy

Somewhere to Unpack

Not having a group of friends, a trusted family member, or even a best friend for certain periods can be difficult. This experience is a lot more common than you might think which is why a diary can be such a great tool to utilize in such situations. Knowing you can write everything down, while also being assured by your own mind that you do not need to hide your thoughts, can be freeing. No need for censors on what is going through your head, just start slowly unpacking your thoughts and writing down what you are going through on a daily basis. 

This is much better than just talking to yourself and going through horrible scenarios in your head. It can help that once you read it back you can see just how ridiculous our thoughts can be sometimes. Our brains are constantly creating these world-ending situations which most of the time don’t even occur in our lives at all. Reading your writings back can be like looking down a photo album, but just for your thoughts. You can see how much you’ve grown over the months and years, and this can help a lot when assessing your mental situation. Even if you can see a decline in your mental health based on your writings, that can be a sign that it is time for you to seek professional help as well. 

Just knowing that you have a special place where you can confide in can help a lot. A lot of our problems with loneliness can be also associated with anxiety and depression, and a feeling of isolation where you feel like no one is paying attention to you. But you can help untangle all your negative, and positive, thoughts one by one in a piece of paper. Consistency can also play a huge role in how much a diary can help and feel like therapy. If you are writing once every few months, perhaps that’s not the best way to go about it if you are in need of a place to confide your feelings in. Writing every day shows commitment and also consistency is always a welcome sign of improvement. 

Diary Benefits

Some of the clear benefits of having a diary include things such as possible improvement in mental health through greater self-acceptance, understanding of yourself as a person with original thoughts and opinions, and especially better learning how to say what you mean and mean what you say. 

Some of these benefits are very similar to the benefits of doing therapy. Obviously, there is a major difference between writing about yourself and talking to a professional, and if your mental health is at a low point then you should seek help from a therapist, but purely as a form of expression a diary can be magical. 

Additionally, some other key benefits are:

• If you’re looking to improve your writing a diary can also be a helpful,
• Organizing your thoughts in a clear-cut manner,
• Writing down goals and reminders,
• Writing down daily experiences so you can recall them later in life etc.

Growing your emotional intelligence is not an easy feat. However, through keeping notes and being self-aware enough to the point of being able to pick up on certain emotions, you can arrive to a safe spot. A spot in which you can detect not only your mood swings, but also be more aware of the people around you so that you can be a better friend, partner or family member. 

Healing Through Being Creative

Mental health is a very complicated matter and seemingly more and more people are struggling with all kinds of issues involving it. It’s so difficult sometimes to feel grounded and to stop feeling as if the worst thing possible is not going to happen, but finding ways to cope and release your inner thoughts can be crucial. 

So, having a diary can help you heal emotionally and reduce the inner trauma. Giving new life to your creativity while also unpacking your trauma and putting your unwanted thoughts on paper, can truly give your mental health a big helping hand. And after all, who couldn’t use some mental health help in these unprecedented times?

Picture: Shutterstock / ID: 2023057376

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