Why Journaling Can Help in the Darkest of Times?

I can’t lie, the last few months have been some of the most difficult times I’ve ever had to go through. Without going into too much detail, my Mum has been in and out of hospital since the end of July and it has been an extremely tough time for myself and my family. 

I share this to give some context to today’s post. During these times, my journals have become a staple part of me and who I am. Without them, I would find it extremely tough to push through. I want to share why journaling can help in the darkest of times.

Sometimes you just need somewhere to write it all down

When something difficult is happening in your life, your brain feels like it has about a million tabs open at once. For me, I’m thinking about what happened yesterday whilst worrying about tomorrow. I’m replaying conversations in my head over and over again. I’m imagining every scenario. Frankly, it can feel exhausting. 

The problem is I sometimes get like this at 2am. Are there many people awake at 2am? Not really. That is where my journal comes in. I can vent all my worries and thoughts down on paper and have no one judge me for it. Sometimes that’s all I need. 

It helps to process things at your own pace 

I don’t want to rely too much on using my Mum as an example but it’s the only thing I have recently that’s drawn me to want to make this post. When you’re going through something as difficult as this, people might have opinions on how you should or shouldn’t be feeling. Of course, they usually mean well but it can be frustrating. 

Your journal gives you a chance to have somewhere where you can be completely honest. It gives you a chance to express yourself freely and I have done that no endless amounts of time since Mum was admitted to hospital. It has taken me time to process everything but having my journal has massively helped.

It reminds you that you have survived every bad day

I can’t lie, this is a really big one for me. I look back at my old journals quite frequently and you can see the days where you weren’t able to cope. You can see the days where you cried. You can see the days where it felt like everything was piling on top of you. You can see it all and realise that you did it. You got through those days and seeing that on paper is something truly special.

I have struggled with feeling like I can’t get through the days where my Mum has been in hospital. Looking back on older entries and realising that I can has helped in ways I cannot describe. 

Journaling doesn’t have to be productive

I think there is this misconception that journaling must be something meaningful. We have this idea that you have to go into detail about every single part of everything that sucks. That does not have to be the case. Sometimes it’s beneficial if we just say, ‘today was awful.’ Occasionally we don’t need a significant amount of detail. Writing just that can be enough.

Do I think that it has made the last few months easier? It’s hard to say. At the end of the day, putting feelings onto a piece of paper will not make the difficult times magically disappear. 

But it has helped at times and that’s more than I can ask for.

Beth