9 Reasons to Journal Every Day

Journaling is a beneficial habit for many people. Some people swear by getting out their notebooks and writing for 10-20 minutes daily. A good amount of people would tell you how therapeutic it is to get their words out and onto paper or typed out. There is a myriad of reasons that people like to journal, but regardless of the reasons people enjoy it, it has been shown to be the most helpful when you journal every day.

A woman wearing a white e-shirt, it sitting at her kitchen table. She has a computer to her left, lit candles to her right and journaling in the middle. She is holding a white pen.

Why should you journal?

Not everyone is convinced that journaling could be a healthy habit. Journaling helps you to get your thoughts and ideas that are jumbled up in your mind out and organized. Keeping all of that inside can seem a bit overwhelming. It can also leave you unfocused and distracted for most of the day. Getting your thoughts out can help you focus the rest of the day. Starting your day by journaling every day can help you be more productive.

Anxiety and depression can be helped somewhat by journaling. Giving yourself a creative outlet to help with things you are struggling with can be beneficial. Without a creative outlet, you might feel stifled or like you are in a constant funk.

Let's look at some common reasons people journal every day.

Set (and achieve) your goals by journaling every day

Writing down our goals helps https://itsinyourreach.com/writing-a-journal-how-to-get-started/ us to achieve them. Writing down your short-term and long-term goals in your journal is a way to help you reach those goals. By having your goals in one place, it's easy to refer back to them.

In your journal, you can outline a plan for each goal with specific steps and deadlines to meet. Setting your plan out, step-by-step, can be helpful to reach your goal. It can also help your mental health and help you to move forward in reaching your goals in your life. It's an amazing feeling to look back and see the progress you have recorded towards reaching your goals. Another amazing feeling is crossing things out as you achieve them. I may or may not put things on my to-do list just to cross them off.

A man is sitting at his desk with a bullet journal in front of him. He has headphones on the left, glasses on the right and is holding a black pen for journaling.

Track your progress and growth

Journaling can help you monitor your progress, no matter what goals you are striving to achieve. If you have a goal to lose weight, journal about how that is going. Lose or gain, write down how you did it, what you can improve, and what wasn't successful. Are you feeling less depressed over a bad situation? Doing a brain dump of your feelings on that and why you think you are growing and healing can help if you find yourself in that situation again.

Seeing how far you have come over time is very helpful and often snowballs into more growth. Going back and reading what you have been journaling every day can help you reflect on your progress.

Woman in an orange shirt with white polka dots is laying on her bed on her stomach. She is journaling in a notebook, holding a black pen in her left hand.

Record your big ideas

We all have thoughts rolling around in our heads that will help us be successful. Getting those thoughts on paper is key! Your journal is a fabulous resource for lists you can look back on later. You can create all kinds of lists that will inspire you. Some ideas for lists to make are as follows...

Places you'd like to visit.
Places you have visited, what was awesome, and why you want to go back.
Things you want to create.
A bucket list of stretch goals.
Favorite motivational quotes.

Vision boards are so amazing and powerful. If you don't want it out for everyone to see, make a mini one in your journal. Just be sure to look at it daily.

A man in a suit is sitting at his desk. There is a computer to his left. He is journaling in a red notebook he is holding in his hand.

Evaluate your day-to-day life by journaling every day

Do you feel like you are not as productive as you'd like to be? Journal your daily routine for an entire week. This will allow you to see where your time is being spent. When you analyze this information, you can revamp your daily routines to be more productive. You could be spending time on something that doesn't have the same value to you now that it did in the past. If so, swap this for something that brings you more joy today. Do this activity regularly to continue working on the best YOU that you can be.

Journaling every day can improve your communication skills

Expressing our feelings verbally can be challenging. Sometimes the words just don't seem to come or don't come in the "right way" when we are talking with a trusted friend or family member. Journaling your thoughts first can help you get your thoughts in order before you have that conversation. Also, journaling every day can help you improve your communication skills. The more you journal and find the words to express yourself, the easier it gets to share.

Alongside this, if you don't have someone you trust to share your thoughts, this is the perfect outlet to process your thoughts.

Manage problems and find solutions

When you have something nagging at you, constantly on your mind, that can be dangerous. Those problems could start to feel much bigger than they actually are and can take away the mental focus that we need for other areas of our lives.

By journaling every day, you can get those issues out of your head. Putting them on paper can help you brainstorm ways to solve the problems. Lightening the burden on your mind will allow for clarity and for you to find solutions to things that are bothering you.

Reduce anxiety and depression

Journaling every day can greatly help people suffering from anxiety and/or depression. Putting your daily thoughts on paper can help you to recognize triggers that cause you anxiety or depression. By doing this, you can keep track of your progress in overcoming those anxieties and also avoid situations that can trigger your anxiety.

For instance, if you have a fear of public speaking, but have to regularly talk in work meetings, this can trigger anxiety. If you just allow that fear to fester in your mind, it will bloom into anxiety every time you have to speak at a meeting or to someone you don't know well. Having it constantly on your mind can also cause anxiety to grow, making it worse rather than overcoming it.

On the other hand, if you can identify what is actually causing the anxiety and how it makes you feel, it will allow you to come up with possible solutions. For instance, you can practice speaking in front of your friends or even in front of the bathroom mirror.

A creative outlet for your mind

While there are many benefits to journaling, sometimes it's as simple as a way to express yourself in a creative way. Not everyone can draw or create visually artistic works. Getting creative through writing may be more your speed.

You can use your journals to share your stories or create funny characters. If you're struggling with what to write about, or writer's block has hit you, one quick google search can give you hundreds of amazing prompts. Whatever strikes your fancy, start writing about it. Or just write about whatever is in your head. That free flow of consciousness could have some amazing nuggets you could follow up on later.

As you can see, there are so many wonderful reasons you should journal every day. If nothing else, it's a safe space to put down your thoughts, your feelings, your ideas, your dreams, and your goals. The more you journal, the easier it will become and the more benefits you will reap from your writing habit.