Journaling is a topic I have been interested in for the last couple of years. Specifically, the potential mental health related benefits you get from it.

Historically I was never able to make the habit stick… Until now! Today my streak is 165 days of journaling every day.

In this post I will describe the benefits I have noticed during that time along with some tips that helped to stick with the habit.

Benefit 1: I process my emotions on a daily basis

I journal daily and that means I write about my day every day. Whenever something upsets me during the day, I will be writing about it.

It prompts me to think deeply about why am I feeling a particular way. For example why did I get upset in this particular situation?

It allowed me to better understand myself and communicate better how I feel to my friends and my partner.

Benefit 2: I feel more optimistic and happier

One of my journaling prompts is what are you grateful for?

It forces me to think every day about the positive things that happened or try to put a positive twist on the negative things that happened throughout my day.

This built a habit of staying optimistic and prevents me from focusing on the bad things.

For example: an event happens during the day that made me mad and my partner talked with me and supported me throughout this situation.

Thanks to the mentioned prompt I focus on the fact that I have a supportive partner instead of overfocusing on the unpleasant event.

Like Dale Carnegie said in How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: Think and act happy and you will be happy and it seems to be working.

Benefit 3: I know what a great day is for me

I tag each of my journal entries with one of the tags:

  1. mood-great
  2. mood-good
  3. mood-neutral
  4. mood-bad

After 165 days of journaling I am able to check what days got the mood-great tag and understand what happened during them that made them great.

In my case it’s usually a combination of:

  1. Getting something done e.g. work related, hobby related or getting a chore done that has been waiting for a long time
  2. Quality time with my partner/friends/family
  3. A new experience e.g. trying out a new food or checking out a new place in our city

Now, I know that if I make time for those things, the chances of having a great day increase!

What finally made me stick to journaling

I found an app that made it fun to journal and motivates me to journal.

The app I am using is Day One, it contains features that I really like.

Feature 1: Memories from past years

I love that photo feature where I start my day and I get presented with memories from past years (photos taken on the same day but in previous years).

Day One promises to do the same thing but with journal entries. I cant’s wait to see in 3 years past notes on how my day was!

Feature 2: Sustainable streaks feature

Streaks are addicting (looking at you Duolingo!). Having a large streak motivates me to keep journaling.

At the same time, the app does not punish you with a lost streak when you come back from a party after midnight and forget to journal. You can edit a journal entry to a particular date and keep your streak going.

Feature 3: Map showing places where you journaled

You can view a map that shows you places where you journaled. It’s a super fun view that reminds me of my travels!

It’s also fun to go back to a journal entry, see how my day was and check where I journaled.

Conclusions

After journaling for 165 days I noticed those 3 benefits:

  1. I process my emotions on a daily basis
  2. I feel more optimistic and happier
  3. I know what a great day is for me

And I hope to continue to journal for years to come.

If you tried journaling but didn’t manage to make it stick, I recommend using the Day One app.