Why i started journaling again and how its helping me right now

During my pre-college years, I had no sense of mental peace. Anxiety and random thoughts flooded my mind all the time. So after a lot of googling on the topic, i came across the solution of writing.

I have tried writing diaries, but i have never stuck with one for more than three days. I also tried bullet journals but they never helped much too. Then, with tons of iteration and YouTube videos, I finally got a system I can stick with easily. Now, after a brief break from it due to academic pressure, I have started journaling again. Because my mind was again filled with lots of stuff.

Journaling helps me in three main ways:

• Flushing my mind of ideas so new ones can form.

• Getting random depressive thoughts out of my mind.

• Improving my ability to convey thoughts.

Every time, I read a book or find some new useful information, I add that to the journal. Rarely do I flip through them pages, but this act of writing down notes helps me retain those information very easily.

My journal also acts like a way of therapy, since writing down troubling thoughts and closing the book, helps get rid of it from my mind too.

The journal system that I follow is basically the following:

• summary in one line for every day of the month, highlighting the important event

• notes on useful topics

• thoughts on random topics

• blurting of troubling thoughts

• occasional doodles

Journaling has transformed my mind from a stormy sea to a calm ocean very easily. It turned out to be the one habit that actually cleared my head and helped me stay sane — so try it out, you might just find your calm too.