Journaling every day is one of the best practices you can engage in for your body and mind. Daily journaling can help us stay grounded, clear-headed, and happy. Whether you journal for 5 minutes or 20 minutes, any amount of journaling can be beneficial for you—especially if you’re willing to do it every day.
But as you start your journaling journey, questions may pop up: Why should you journal every day? How can you actually do it? And what should you be journaling about? Here’s everything you need to know.
Why Should I Journal Every Day?
You should journal every day because journaling is proven by decades of research to control symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve mood. Journaling every day improves your mood by:
- Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns.
- Helping you track your symptoms, helping you to prioritize certain problems and concerns.
- Helping with positive self-talk and helping you identify negative thought patterns and behaviors that are inhibiting happiness and stopping you from reaching your full potential.
To be clear, though, some journaling is always better than no journaling. So if you can’t journal every day, that’s OK! Try doing it once a week, once every two weeks, or even once a month. Something will always be better than nothing.
How to Journal Every Day
You may think of daily journaling as something that needs to take up half an hour of your day or more, but that’s actually not the case at all. Here are some ideas for how to journal every day:
- Write in a one-line-a-day journal, which is exactly what it sounds like—you just have to write one sentence in it every day.
- Write in a gratitude journal, where you list one to five things you’re grateful for every day.
- Write morning pages, where you take some time to reflect in the morning (bonus points if you do it over your morning coffee!)
- Write down your dreams in a dream journal
- Free write for a few minutes
- Try bullet journaling
- If you’re pregnant, keep a pregnancy journal where you detail your experiences
- Just write about what happened today (obviously, this is best done at night)
- Write with the goal of preserving your memories, so you’ll have something to look back on
- Make a to-do list—that counts! But don’t make it work-related, make it you-related.
What to Journal About Each Day
Journaling prompts can be a great tool when you’re not following a specific journaling format. Here are some ideas for what to journal about each day:
- What brings you joy?
- What’s one great thing that’s happened to you recently?
- What’s something you’re looking forward to?
- Write about a memory that brings you joy
- Write a letter to someone you love
- When were you last surprised?
- Are you feeling stressed out right now? About what?
- What is your 10-year goal for yourself?
- What kind of person do you aspire to be?
- Name a skill you want to learn
- What’s something great that happened today?
- What was your favorite hobby as a kid?
- What’s a memory that makes you smile?
- What scares you?
- Do you believe in soul mates?
- What’s the best thing in your life right now?
- What are your top ways to de-stress and practice self-care?
- What’s your favorite song, and why?
- What’s your favorite movie?
- List out something new you want to learn
Journaling every day might feel intimidating, but trust us—it can make a world of difference in your life, and you can do it!
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