Why Should You Journal Every Day

When I wrote about the increase in creative traveling journaling, I talked about how various creative ways of journaling have started cropping up with the technology getting better every day.

Evolutionarily, we humans are social creatures. Social media has given us a public “personal diary.” We need comfort, support, and encouragement from others who are on the same path as we are. With online forums, there is no need to ignore the human need for accountability. We get to share things with strangers, but still, keep it personal because they do not know us in real life.

I also talked about why I prefer ‘the good old pen and paper’ method of jotting my thoughts down.

To me, writing on a paper will always be the first choice. It makes me feel more connected to the story I am writing. Spending hours choosing the pictures to be included in the narration. Working on the page layout, decorating the pictures with washi tapes and stickers, adding anecdotes, highlighting main events – all of these things make me feel appreciative of the opportunities I get in my life.

It makes me appreciate the fact that I get to do these things, that I live these adventures. It also makes me more in tune with my journal because I do everything by hand, and every line and every decoration is carefully chosen.

Journaling is a way to connect with your inner self and a way to understand yourself in the simplest of ways. Monitoring your thoughts and behaviors by jotting down things that are currently bothering you is what makes you aware of the issues you are dealing with; it brings you clarity.

Journaling doesn’t only help personally but is also of great assistance professionally. Being unclear about what needs to be done takes up a lot of time in needless trial and error – it can bring down your productivity and also your morale. 

There is a time for trial and error, there is a time for figuring the workflow out, but not when you are on a deadline and under pressure to achieve your goal in a limited time period. This can create unnecessary clutter in your mind with thoughts of getting the work done and also stress, self-doubt, and negativity.

Keeping a separate journal for your personal and professional life is great for you to learn how to create a work-life balance. This way you learn to segregate your thoughts into home and work. This helps you avoid your work life from bleeding into your personal life.

Here are some benefits of journaling every day that we talked about:

• Keeping a daily journal is a great way to keep track of your progress. 
• You get better at self-reflection.
• Your ability to articulately express feelings and develop critical thinking enhances.
• Journaling helps you think clearly.
• It helps keep your home and work life separate.
• It helps you channel your thoughts.
• You can plan your daily tasks more clearly.

Final Thoughts

Journaling every day is a good practice to be on top of everything in your life. It is also a great way to make a record of your days. This gives you data to learn what needs to change in your life from the pattern you can see in your daily functioning. Journaling is great for recording the past, sorting out the present, and planning for the future!