If it’s Heavy Put it Down—in a journal

Do you remember the first time you saw an adult coloring book or heard about the idea of adults coloring for relaxation and creativity? 

​I remember the first time I saw an adult coloring book in an article in the New York Times about Johanna Basford’s 2013 coloring book Secret Garden. 

The cover of the book exhibited lovely black-ink line drawings against white paper with gold foil accents.  The book’s simple message was optimistic—tapping into your childhood activities is therapeutic.  And the adult coloring sensation was on.  Adults set up coloring clubs, met up at cafés, and bought each other countless coloring books to devote hours filling in line drawings with colored pencils and crayons. 

Adult life has hit a breaking point where high stress, fast pace, and increased anxiety is the norm of the day.  Regardless what people are doing—students, homemakers, professionals, and creatives—our collective levels of stress and anxiety have reached a height where our health and wellbeing are affected.

Today, more people are more stressed and more affected by that stress than ever before.  Since 1999, levels of stress, depression, and anxiety have risen at a steady pace.  And this is not just an American problem; this is happening all over the world in nearly every demographic by age, economics, and location.  
​

---

OK, so what do we do about it? 
​

In much the same way that we turned to coloring books to relieve stress and balance our lives, journal writing is a simple activity that anyone can engage in to relieve stress. 
​
With half the country being at odds with the other half, can people really decrease stress as easily and picking up a journal and jotting down a few notes?  Yes, it can work.  Of course, journal writing is not a cure-all to everyone’s problems, but the research indicates that it people’s stress, anxiety, and depression levels can decrease with journal writing.  

Set Yourself Up for Successful Writing 
​

How does someone get themselves set up to journal?  Like all activities, when people start off prepared, the likelihood for success is greater. 

Space
Create a space to write just the way you like it.  Do you prefer to write in bed for a half hour before falling asleep?  If so, set up your nightstand with your journal, pens, and colored pencils so that you are ready to write and draw. 

Are you an early morning writer who likes to wake up the sun?  Great.  Set the timer on your coffeemaker to have a hot drink ready for you first thing in the morning.  Maybe set out your writing materials next to the kitchen table or easy chair under the reading lamp so that you can write first thing.

Schedule
People are particular about when and what time they write best.  Many people pop out of bed before dawn to greet the day with enthusiasm and others take advantage of the late-night creative energy that allows them to produce a ton of work closer to midnight.  Whatever your preferred time, try to schedule time to write each day at your preferred time of day. 

Accouterments 
What goodies do you like to have with you when you write?  Do you need your special pens or colored pencils?  Do you only write with a hot coffee and a pastry?  Are you a person who writes with a glass of red wine and an assortment of dark chocolates?  Do you prefer classical music in the background or total silence?  The things we carry when we attend to our writing can be the difference between success and giving up too soon, so choose consciously.

Style
Different people like to write in different ways.  Some prefer a memoir-style of writing so that they have an opportunity to look back on the past and make peace with their memories.  Others like to release the stress of the day by journaling about their everyday happenings.  And some use journals as a note-taking tool where they can keep lists, ideas, and drawings all in one place.  Whatever your favorite style, choose one to begin your writing practice. 


​

If your writing practice is stuck, then download this free guide and start writing again. You were born to write. We will get you started.

Get the download and get ready to jumpstart your writing practice.

Today, people are more overburdened than ever before. Political tensions, climate change, and economic instability create the perfect storm for a stressed-out society. If you aren’t yet journaling, get The Simple Guide to Journal Writing and get started.

Audience 
Writers can use audience as a means for creating a better writing experience for themselves.  When we write journal entries to a particular person (i.e., parent, child, friend, deity) then writing journal entries can be easier to compose and smoother to write.  Consider who you might use as your intended audience for your journal entries.  Although you do not have to share the journal entries with the intended audience, having an audience in mind can make the writing process more accessible.

Support  
For many people, writing is a social activity not an individual endeavor.  Writing with friends, with a writing club, or with a writing coach can enhance the writing experience and produce more useful writing. 

Evaluate, Reflect, Adjust 
Be willing to change along the way.  Our initial decisions are not always the best ones.  Sometimes we need to evaluate our processes, reflect on what worked best, and make adjustments to find the methods that work best for us as individual writers.  ​

Conscious Journaling 
​

Once writers are set up to write, which really could be set up in a few minutes, then it is time to start journaling. 

Conscious journaling is the path to relieving stress rather than building up more of it.  If we allow ourselves to wander down a negative path of dark thoughts, regrets, and painful memories without having a plan for relieving those low emotions, then journaling may be counterproductive.  For journal writing to relieve stress, writers need to focus on the positive.

How does a writer stay positive and relieve stress, even while writing about difficult subjects?

To relieve stress while journaling, conclude each journal entry with a solution, plan, or successful result.  So, each time that you write about anything at all—future goals, dark memories, or reflections on life, end the journal entry on a positive note. 

After writing about a dark memory of when things went wrong, rewrite the story with a solution in mind.  Write about what could have been done differently, how things could have changed, or what different actions could have created a better outcome.  Another option for writing a solution is to write about how a new solution could be put in place to correct the effects and outcomes. 

A plan can be as effective to end a journal entry.  Writers can plan how to move forward with a new goal, can plan a list of steps to take, or can plan out a series of stories to write.  As well, a successful result is useful for concluding a journal entry.  Writers can incorporate successful results into journal entries as well; ending an entry with a positive outcome can turn any topic in an optimistic direction.  Writers can delve deep into all kinds of memories, ideas, and thoughts and relieve stress by ending each entry with a positive note. 

So, if you have not yet started, grab a notepad and start journaling.  Any time that you are delving into deep or dark topics, make a point of ending those entries on a positive note with a solution, plan, or successful result.  Over time, the effort put into journal writing should relieve stress for most writers.  
​

Is life sometimes overwhelming? Do the blues get you down? Today, people are more stressed out than ever before, but journal writing can help. Jumpstart your journal writing practice with this course, which is designed to help you establish a journal writing practice.

Related Blog Posts