Journaling for Emotional Support

Have you ever had experienced a stressful situation in your life but were too afraid to talk about it with someone? Did the fear of judgement and shame of your own thoughts keep you from seeking support?

Writing your thoughts can be a powerful tool to help you through these difficult times.

Journaling has helped through the years in my toughest times and it’s something I continue to do today. It helps me clear my thoughts. I found when I put my thoughts on paper, I was honest with myself and my emotions.

Here are some ways that you can use journaling as a method for emotional support.

Resolving Fears

The first time I started journaling was when I was in high school. I experienced nightmares as a child. My dreams so horrific I could never talk about them with anyone else should they judge me. I started writing down the dreams to understand them. Reading through my dreams created a distance between myself and the events that occurred in them. I became an observer, which allowed me to be less fearful as I tried to analyze what they meant.

Many of our fears are played out in our dreams at night. All dreams, not just fearful ones can bring us insight into the struggles we might be experiencing in our lives. When you wake up, take a few notes about the dreams you had the night before. Focus on the part of the dream that stood out. Was someone chasing you? Did you get bit by an animal? Were you arguing with someone? It’s important to do this right away because most of us get caught up in our daily lives and forget what we dreamt the night before quickly as our day begins.

When you do have a few moments to research about the dreams you experienced, use a dream dictionary to identify the source of the dream and see if you can relate it to a part of your life that you are struggling with. The one I like to use the most is “The Dreamer’s Dictionary” by Lady Stearn Robinson and Tom Corbett.

Decision-making

Making big decisions in life can be stressful. Whether it’s accepting a new job, buying a house, choosing a school for your child, or staying in a relationship, the thoughts running through your head can bring on anxiety and stress. Many of these decisions are not life or death, yet we dwell on them, ask our friends for advice and lose sleep as our minds race trying to make the right choice.

My mother, who is a Sicilian immigrant with an 8th grade education, never wrote in a journal, but she always gave me the following advice:

“Take a piece of paper and on one side, write a list of all the things that are good about the decision and on the other side write a list of all the things that are bad.”

In her words she was guiding me to write a pros and cons list, and it always worked. Seeing a page in front of me where one side had a list of 10 items while the other had 15 made my decision-making easier as the right choice was staring back at me.

I’ve used this advice with my teenage kids, as every decision is a challenge for them, and find it helps them to see things clearly the way that my mom taught me to do so.

Grief

Grief comes in many forms. Losing a loved one can spiral you into depression thinking of the ‘what ifs, or ‘why’. Perhaps there was more you wanted to say before their passing. Or may you just want to continue sharing life’s moments with them, yet they are no longer around. There’s an ache in your heart of missing that person and you feel hopeless, longing to have them in your company.

When I was going through years of infertility, I had lost several pregnancies, two in the second trimester. I met with counselors as my grief and depression was too much to bear. I was pregnant again and feared for the life I was carrying inside me. No one understood my grief and while the counselors were helping me, I found that journaling to the unborn child I was carrying gave me the outlet I needed to grieve appropriately.

The pregnancy was high risk, and I was fearful of the outcome. Journaling helped me write about my fears of the unknown and talk about my losses to my baby, who I knew would not judge me for my thoughts or grow tired of my grief.

Stress

Stress comes to us in many ways. Work, raising children, taking care of elderly parents, relationships and finances are just a few of the many stresses that can have a huge impact on our wellbeing. In our busy schedules, it’s hard to take the time to decompress and take care of ourselves the way that we should.

Writing in a journal about the stresses you are enduring provides you an outlet to talk about the situation without judgements. My mom lived with me for many years and she helped take care of my children. She was a great help around the house and cared for my kids when I was unable to, due to my work obligations, or my own stresses I was struggling with. She was especially helpful when I was going through my divorce. I needed her.

Yet, she was my mother, and we had our differences that brought on more stress even while she was helping me. I talked about our relationship with others but received criticism because of all the help she was providing me. “You should be grateful”, I was told from those I confided in.

I was writing in a journal as I was going through my healing process and writing about my frustrations with our relationship provided me an outlet where I could talk about our issues, without the judgements of others.

Healing Growth

Writing for emotional support is not just writing the negative events in your life. In my healing journals, I also wrote about my experiences of going to hypnotherapy, counseling, sobriety and friendships.

I talked about my kids and the times when we were in harmony. This was my time to reflect on the good things that were happening in my life. Writing about positive events, I was able to reflect on my growth in areas that I had been working on in my therapies.

Journaling is a great way to decompress, release your thoughts, and “get things off your chest” without judgment or criticism from anyone. The key to journaling is to be honest about your feelings, and you’ll soon find the benefits of journaling for emotional support.

If you want to learn more about how to start journaling, read my blog post: Start Journaling in 6 Easy Steps!

I've designed several digital journals to support you in your healing journey. Visit my shop to take a look!