If I could compare the inside of my brain to anything, it would be a yarn basket where all of the different balls are intertwined and knotted together. Just a colorful mess of different threads, harmful or helpful, that cloud my thoughts and make it a challenge to untangle and function as a normal human. So, in order to make sense of my inner thoughts, I bought myself a journal and just wrote. Writing in my Harry Styles circa 2013 notebook has helped me with not only my mental health, but has helped me become more organized.Â
When dealing with mental health, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression my senior year of high school. I have always been an overthinker, but it slowly started to take over my life. All of these intrusive and anxiety-ridden thoughts would essentially block me from functioning, forcing me to be glued to my bed. Once I got a therapist, she suggested journaling. I personally love writing creatively, but had never committed to a daily journal. Right when I started, I filled up four pages front to back. I wrote about anything and everything I was worried or stressed or upset about. Even though my hand was cramping, my mind was clear. I had felt an enormous weight fall from my shoulders. All of those thoughts I was carrying around all day were now written down and released from my brain. One most therapeutic thing about journaling my worries is simply being able to close the journal and put it aside, symbolizing how I needed to put these thoughts aside and live out my life. Â
My organizational skills had also improved from this. Writing things down when I have a busy day that stresses me out, helps me ground myself. Putting it on paper makes my goals seem more attainable. The act of checking things off I needed to do is also therapeutic because I feel so accomplished. It could be a task as simple as doing my laundry, but compared to the nothing I was doing before when my mental health was down, it feels like I just invented sliced bread. I even got myself using a planner, which I had never done before because I never had the motivation (thanks depression <3). Starting the habit of emptying the metaphorical trash in my head, made more room for me to organize the items that were valuable.Â
I would recommend journaling daily to anyone. You don’t have to be struggling with mental health and you definitely don’t have to make it four pages long. Writing things down helps you navigate through your day and feelings which strengthens your overall well being. Journaling has helped me take the jumbled spools of yarn in my head, untangle them, and use my pencils as knitting needles and make a beautiful long crocheted scarf.