How Journaling Helped Me

Before we go any further, I wanted to explain my thoughts on what a journal may be. A journal for me, is something along the lines of a game plan. It is where you write what happened during your day that may have bothered you immensely and write about how to fix it.

So why did I decide to journal and write about what goes on throughout my day and in my head in the first place? Watching videos about the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and reading books and articles really gave me the inspiration to start writing. At first, I was only writing about what I had learned and from what I’ve read (book notes, you may say). Then I started writing about how I could apply them to my life, then to finally how the information I gathered from reading was put into practical use in any given day and how I could further improve myself.

I remember one time being out in the cold streets of New York City in the winter, waiting for the ever-so-punctual MTA Transit Bus for more than an hour.  I simply felt nothing but anger and the winter weather on my face. I didn’t leave the house more punctual than usual just to wait for the bus for longer than it would take me to walk the whole way to where I was supposed to go. With all the pent up frustration I was feeling, journaling actually helped me calm down.

Of course, prayers are still the best medicine for any trouble you could ever imagine.  Journaling is simply just another tool for me that comes after prayers to help remedy the situation.

How it helped me that time was writing about why I was mad in the first place, asking a lot of questions to myself such as “Why didn’t you leave earlier?” “What were you doing that was so important?” Just digging deeper to find out the actual cause of my anger. Turns out, I wasn’t really angry at the bus for being late, I was more angry with myself for not having left even earlier.

And since the cause of anger is something that I control—which is me—I chose to accept the fact that the bus was late and just wait for it. That simple conflict and resolution taught me to leave the house even earlier in case of any unanticipated roadblocks that may come my way.

Now, I’m not saying that I’ve never slacked off, or that I’m always improving no matter the circumstance in any stretch of the imagination. I do admit to constantly finding myself going  days and weeks of not writing anything in my journal, I’ve been unproductive on countless occasions. But eventually, I’ll see my journal, pick it up, and start writing once again.

The point is, there are many ways to ease your anger and to address the undisclosed or buried emotions you are currently feeling or have been going through. Praying and journaling being two of the methods I use on a regular basis. Listening to sad songs when you’re sad or festering in your own anger is the same as watering your plants in the rain, you won’t know how stupid it is until you’re outside looking in and not being engulfed in your own feelings.

This is why journaling can be both soothing and empowering. It helps take you outside of your own emotions and to look at yourself from a bird’s eye view by putting them into ink and onto the paper. Once you’re looking at it, you begin to become fully aware of your own thought processes and address whatever needs to be, and you can start to take it from there.