The popularity of journaling has grown substantially in the past couple years. And, with our everyday “screen time” increasing all the time at home, work, school, and play, there’s good reason for it. Whether you’re interested in journaling as a mean of balancing your thoughts at the end of the day or just as a way to pass the time away from your phone or other device, journaling offers quite a few fantastic benefits that you can enjoy through just a few minutes of daily solitude.

What Can Journaling Do For Me?

In case you need a bit of convincing about why you should journal, here are some benefits you can expect to start enjoying once you take up journaling as a regular hobby:

● It relaxes you.

Maybe it’s the routine 10-15 minutes (or more) you’re going to start setting aside each day, or perhaps it’s the fact that journaling lets you reflect on your thoughts and feelings all by yourself– whatever the reason, journaling is praised for being extremely relaxing.

● It lowers your stress.

Again, whether it’s because you’re devoting a few minutes each day to just reflect on the day or for the fact that you’re able to vent out your thoughts and troubles, journaling can help lower your stress levels.

● It helps you think through problems.

Running into issues around every curve? Life can be tough, but journaling is one of the easiest ways to overcome your problems all on your own. “Putting pen to paper” has long been a way to get past hurdles, and writing out your thoughts can help you do just that.

How To Get Started

The first step to journaling is buying a journal. After that mandatory step, however, you can pretty much take it in any direction you desire. Journaling is a very personal thing, which is why you don’t have to follow a set blueprint unless you want to. If you’re wondering how long you should journal or how often, that’s also up to you and it’s really dependent on your schedule.

A good start would be to devote 10-15 minutes during the day where you can sit down in a quiet spot and write in your journal. It’d be a good idea to associate this activity with another activity, like your morning routine or evening routine so that you aren’t trying to “squeeze” your journalling in throughout your busy day (which will ultimately lead to inconsistent entries or forgetting altogether). As a final tip, don’t worry about what you’re going to write about or how much you write.

Once you sit down for a couple minutes, an idea will come to you. That idea might be a short story, a memory, a problem, something you’re looking forward to, or just a random thing that’s caught your interest recently.

There are no rules to journaling, just make sure you do it often!