Journaling can be a great experience, but when I first heard about it I was turned off. I have to sit down every day and think about my feelings or what I did and write it down? That sounds like a lot of effort. In reality, it doesn't have to be like that, and it is something I would recommend everyone at least try out.

It can be really hard to work things out in your own head. For me, whenever I would have a problem it would bother me and constantly be on my mind; trying to find a solution would be a painful case of dog-chasing-its-tailing syndrome. The nice thing about journaling is that it allows you to work out everything you are thinking in a much more coherent, structured, way.

I didn't get into journaling because I wanted to keep a log of my day-to-day activity. I did it because I wanted to learn more about myself. I wanted to understand my thought patterns and how I dealt with issues.

The biggest barrier to me starting was the time commitment of it. As I said before, it just seemed like a lot of work. However, I found that it really doesn't have to be that way, and changing my perception of it largely had to do with my mentality of it. I didn't make journaling about recollection and documentation, but instead made it about stream-of-consciousness writing, which is significantly easier to do. I even found it to be fun. This lead to me seeing it not as work, but as something that was more fun to do.

Once this is all done, it's more or less just a matter of setting a time to do it. I always found that before bed made it easier for me, especially since I had a bit of leisure time in this period anyways. Also, do it in a means that is easiest for you! I just wrote in a Word document on my laptop, while others might prefer physically writing it out.

After starting, it is important to remember that you don't have to feel obligated to pour your heart and soul into each day's entry. There were some days where I was extremely tired and would write only one sentence in the journal. But that one sentence could be meaningful, and at the very least helps to keep the routine of journaling going.

The biggest benefit I saw after just a few weeks was an uptick in mental health. Writing out my thoughts was very theuraputic, and also allowed me to analyze what I was thinking and change what I found to be problematic. The structure of it and the act of writing it down really helped me sort out my thoughts in a way I couldn't do previously.

It was also just interesting to be able to look back and know exactly what you felt in a moment. The brain so easily forgets almost everything we do and feel at any given time, and having a written history of it can really show your progression as a person and take you back to any time you want to re-live.

After a while it is easy to fall off the journaling train, and I definitely have at times, but it is still something that I reccomend people try out for themselves. After writing 20,000+ words, I can definitely say that it has been a positive experience for me.