I never thought I would own a diary. If someone had given me a diary I never imagined I would have written in it. It felt like something a teenager would use to obsess over a crush at school.
I’d never genuinely thought about writing my thoughts and feelings down on paper.
I always liked the idea of keeping some paper and a pen next to my bed at night, just in case I woke up and couldn’t stop thinking about work or something else my mind considered more important than sleep (which is ironic because the mind and body needs sleep to function properly).
However, in recent years my life and some of my loved one’s lives have been ‘somewhat turbulent’ and getting into my own mind and understanding the thoughts I have, the feelings those thoughts manifest and most importantly the actions they produce in me, have become a bit of an obsession (I don’t particularly like the word obsession, so we’ll call it passion).
My own mental health and mindfulness in general have become a new focus, a new passion. I knew I needed to address a few things within myself that have been unknowingly suppressed for years and were holding me back from the life I wanted. I also needed to work out want I truly wanted from life and not just the usual pursuit of happiness.
Diary writing was one of the first things I read about, began to research and quickly put into practice. The benefits were profound.
What it meant was all the thoughts rumbling around in my mind could be extracted and dumped onto a page. Which meant I didn’t have to keep thinking about them in that moment and I could come back to them later on if I wanted to. It also meant they could be given some structure. A little like practising meditation, when life becomes a struggle and we think too much or worry too much, diary writing or journalling gave me an outlet, a release from the noise and a healthy coping mechanism. Its a brain dump, to help clear your head of thoughts, however relevant they may or may not be to your life.
I made sure to always put a time and date at the top of the page for each entry. This was invaluable for tracking progress. Upon re-reading old diary notes from a previous difficult time I reignited positive trends I had identified before and could instill them in my life again.
You only truly believe something when you come to the answer yourself.
What diary writing meant above all else, was the ability to find my answers, to my questions, without any external influences from friends or family. Being 100% honest with yourself is paramount in this process. If you can’t be 100% honest with yourself you are going to struggle to do the same with others. And to use the old saying, ‘Honesty is always the best policy’ could not be closer to the truth.
An important aspect of this was to keep the diary private. I cannot reiterate this enough. Nobody else but you should read your words. This is the only way you will feel like you can fully open up to yourself in the words you write and really determine your deepest truths.
I make a real effort to write something down everyday no matter how I’m feeling or how many thoughts I am having, positive or negative and also express gratitude for all the wonderful things and people I have in my life. It makes for quite a soothing practice.
When you suffer from depression or anxiety your mind can go into overdrive worrying about past or future events. (Neither of which exist in the present moment, but that’s a story for a different day) And developing healthy coping mechanisms such as diary writing can really help to calm the mind of thoughts and find the answers to those pressing questions we may have.
So if you don’t already. Buy a diary. Not with set dates in. Just a notepad, with lines. Make it look nice so you want to pick it up. And take it everywhere you go, as much as you possibly can.
And above all else. Write. Write to your hearts content. Write until your hand hurts like during that exam you took in school. Write even if you’ve never written before. You might find you start to enjoy it. I know I did.
Me, Myself and Mind 