Welcome! Did you know? Journaling increases mental and physical health and has applicable benefits for your personal and professional life!

About Journaling and Me

I am a College Junior interested in communication, psychology and finding ways to better understand yourself and others. Self reflection is a practice that boosts personal wellbeing in countless ways. It takes many forms from the traditional written diary style journal to art therapy and prayer. On this site I will show you the what, why and how of self reflection, as well as some other food for thought on how to increase happiness and decrease stress in your personal and professional life.

I began journaling as a young child as a form of prayer, being raised in a Christian family. It became a daily practice that I carried into college as a way to ponder life, my strengths, weaknesses, and what I am thankful for or struggling with. It helps me to release tension when it arises in school, work, or relationships, and take inventory of my feelings and priorities, allowing me to step back and reorganize my life in times of crisis.

Here on the site you can hear me discuss more about why and how you should journal in my recorded ignite speech, get ideas of ways you can being this self reflection in my links and critiques pages, and see first hand what all these journaling techniques look like for me in my media project; A WEEK OF JOURNALING with seven common journaling styles demonstrated every day (Bullet Journaling, Prompted Written Journaling, Unprompted Typed Journaling, Expressive Art Journaling, Video Journaling, Book Journaling, and Letter Journaling.

Journaling has helped me academically and professionally because it gives me better speaking ability and a clearer mind as well as being a way to stay organized. Being able to effectively and specifically communicate when faced with cultural and personal differences is an applicable skill I credit to journaling and because of my academic choices I have recently been accepted to peer council women as they go through fall formal recruitment for the Panhellenic community at UCSD, and help organize and plan so the long week runs smoothly. In life I’ve found that just about the only thing for certain is uncertainty and for someone who loves to plan, when things get crazy or something goes wrong, instead of becoming overwhelmed or upset, I am able to remain calm due to the practice of self reflections and awareness that journaling sets up.

The benefits that journaling gives me may not happen for everyone, but there have been some proven benefits of these practices that are surprising. An article by Intermountain Health care discusses the five powerful health benefits of Journaling which include improving your immune function and memory (Bailey, 2018). Furthermore, Psych Central writes about interpersonal benefits including improved problem solving and conflict resolution skills as well as mental health benefits such as self confidence, emotional regulation, and reduction of stress (Purcell, 2018).