JOURNO FOR JOY
Get through the pandemic by journaling
By Agnes Aui
Journo, short for journaling, generally involves the practice of keeping a diary or journal that explores thoughts and feelings surrounding the events of your life. According to an interview with The New York Times, Dr James Pennebaker says that “keeping a journal helps to organise an event in our mind, and make sense of trauma. When we do that, our working memory improves, since our brains are freed from the enormously taxing job of processing that experience, and we sleep better.” In this issue, we list down everything you need to know about journaling, and how it can help you get through this stressful pandemic.
# TYPES OF JOURNALING:
1. DIARY JOURNALING
Diary journaling is one of the oldest forms of journaling. It’s no secret that most of us owned a diary at some point in our childhood, and would write down everything that happened in our daily lives. From happy to sad events, and special ones too, we dated them on every page and sealed it with a sign. Diary journaling is a great way to express yourself throughout the pandemic, especially since contact with families and friends are limited. It also helps free your mind from stress and stops yourself from overthinking, as you’ll have a medium to channel your feelings to.
2. BULLET JOURNALING
Also known as BuJo, bullet journaling is a method of personal organisation developed by designer Ryder Carroll. First shared with the public in 2013, the system organises schedules, reminders, to-do list, brainstorming and various organisational tasks into a single notebook. The name “bullet journaling” comes from the use of abbreviated bullet points to log information. It also partially comes from the use of dot journals, which are gridded using dots rather than lines. Despite it being more suited for organising your life, bullet journaling can be relaxing to some. Being able to see how organised your life is through bullet journaling gives you a sense of achievement and happiness as you power through the pandemic.
3. STICKER JOURNALING
The latest form of journaling is sticker journaling, where commonly overlooked tools in planning and bullet journaling take the spotlight. Sticker journaling uses stickers, washi tape, stamps, stencils and more to create pages that express a person’s feelings or to create an overall aesthetic feel. Some combine sticker journaling and diary journaling as well, first laying down the foundation with stickers and then journaling daily thoughts and feelings on top of it. Sticker journaling can be a calming process for many, and with the vast variety of stickers available to be purchased through online shopping platforms, sticker journaling has quickly become one that many turn to during this pandemic.
# BENEFITS OF JOURNALING:
1. KEEP YOUR THOUGHTS ORGANISED
No matter which type of journaling you choose to adopt, one thing for sure is that it will help to organise our thoughts and make them apprehensible. Journaling allows you to record down daily events, thoughts and feelings about your daily experiences or even opinions. Journaling also allows you to look back on the good and bad memories, tagging and archiving them along the way.
2. RELIEVE STRESS
Journaling is a popular way to de-stress, because journaling allows you to dump out any anxiety, frustration or pain. By doing so, it can help reduce stress, take some weight off your shoulders and stop you from overthinking. If you find it difficult to express your feelings in words, try the “mood tracker”, a customisable page that tracks your everyday mood. All in all, expressing yourself through journaling is judgement-free and overall empowering.
3. BEING ABLE TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS
Journaling is a great way to record and achieve your goals. It’s a good place to jot down your goals, ambitions, aspirations and even resolutions. By keeping it all in a single notebook, you’re able to monitor your progress and even motivate yourself as you continue to focus on the next milestones in your life.
4. NEVER FORGET YOUR IDEAS
The benefits of keeping a journal is that you can record all of your ideas in one place anytime and anywhere. Whenever an idea comes to your mind, you can just write it down in your journal, especially if you tend to carry your journal everywhere. Doing so will allow you to remember your ideas, revisit them and expand them further.