Throughout the past two weeks – by suggestion of my wonderful CAPS psychologist – I started a gratitude journal, where I jot down things I’m grateful for at the end of every day.
Here is what this experience has taught me so far.
Image via MajindraRaj
The Bad News
Let’s start with the bad news first. You know, the part that all these Pinterest pins and online self-help articles leave out.
I wish I could say that starting a gratitude journal was able to completely change my entire outlook on life and made me an all-round better person. But that’s not what happened. In fact, taking a step back and really looking at it, I’m beginning to see that we often think that by doing this one thing it’s going to be a one dose, cure all solution to our problems. If we just drink more water, start a gratitude journal, or learn to meal prep, all our worries will fade away. And then when they don’t, we’re left disappointed. We can’t expect one quick and easy fix to all the complexities that are life as a multi-tasking college student. What I learned is that starting a gratitude journal isn’t the magic spell to cure my anxiety. Instead, it’s just one step of an extensive, multi-stage process.
That being said, I went in to this project excited but quickly found myself disillusioned a few days in when I didn’t immediately become Parker from Friends (remember, that really positive guy Phoebe dated who would say things like, Isn’t this the best door ever?!). At the end of the day when it was time for me to write, I’d often feel like this was just another thing that I had tacked on to my endless to-do list of responsibilities. Not too fun.
The Good News
Now, here’s the good news (yes, it’s good, I promise!). Starting a gratitude journal made me more aware of things that made me happy throughout the course of the day. It encouraged me to take mental notes of whatever was making feel good in that moment, and this helped me really register my positive emotions and maintain a better mood for a longer period of time. For example, if one of my professors complimented me for contributing in class discussion, I’d acknowledge Hey, that was really nice of my professor to say and for the rest of class, I would feel happier and much more engaged.
I also liked looking back at my journal entries for previous days and recounting what I was prompted to write about back then. I got a free It frappuccino from Starbucks one day, I had some super engaging guest speakers for my juvenile justice course another day, I had a fun meeting with the HerCampus girls last week. Looking back at these reminded me of why I started this journal in the first place during days when I really didn’t want to write.
What I’m improving
What didn’t work too well for me was saving writing in my journal for the end of the day. Although I understand that this method is recommended to help you end your day on a positive note, I just didn’t feel as happy recounting everything good that happened as I felt when I took note of it while it was happening. That being said, I will continue writing in my journal, but I’m going to be switching to writing in it as the day progresses and see how that works out.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, definitely. Everyone is bound to different experiences, and different things work at various levels for different people. You may find a way to make a gratitude journal work better for you (and, if you have any suggestions, I would more than love to hear them!), and may get even better results than I did. Or you may find – like me – it’s not particularly helpful in some areas, but in others it is. My advice is to give it a try. You have got nothing to lose!