Anxiety during journaling

[Dustin B]

It might seem silly but for me the hardest part of the program has always been writing in a daily journal. It might seem silly but It makes me so anxious to do so. I get so impatient during the process of writing down my thoughts by hand. Can anyone else relate?

[LisaLisa]

If journaling makes you anxious, this might be a great time to just do it and push past an anxiety-driven limitation. If you don't like to write, why not just create a journal on your computer and type it.

LisaLisa

[traveller]

I can definitely relate to the dislike of journalling, Dustin B. I know that it's supposed to be helpful, but I get impatient with it as well. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it, though I suppose the help is in the process rather than the product for the most part.

You're probably right. LisaLisa, that it's something to just push through. I can rationalize my way out of anything that creates anxiety for me, but there's a ton of evidence about the benefits of journalling. I think that it might force me to slow down my thoughts -- I have to hear my thoughts in order to write them down, which is probably the point of it all and why the anxiety and avoiding...

[Dustin B]

I did decide to start typing a journal instead of writing by hand, and all though it still makes me anxious it doesn't cramp up my hand like when writing by hand. Journaling makes me nervous because I feel like I have to write detail by detail at times. Also I feel like I will forget to write some things down that I want to. So many thoughts come in at once. I suppose I should just take it as it is. I've been doing better with it though, plus I can't keep letting anxiety kick my butt time and time again. Thanks for the responses. :u]

Peace & Love
-Dustin

[Jackie B]

Carolyn, I think that's her name, gave me some great advice about journaling. Instead of writing them, just do an audio journal.

[Eowyn]

Dustin B, I am also afraid that I will forget to write something in my journaling. Sometimes the thoughts come to me so fast. Something I do is start listing things in the journal as they come to me. Even if its in the middle of a sentence, stop the sentence, go down a line or two, write a couple words to remind my self, then skip down a couple lines again and finish the sentence I was working on before.

I try to remind myself that my journal is not going to become a published book. It doesn't need to look nice and neat.

When I was younger I kept a journal and wrote in it about things that were going on with my friends or with boys. Several years later I found my journal and began reading through it. It was funny and interesting to read through and see how I reacted to things. It made me realize how much I had grown, changed, and matured. I think that is one reason why we are encouraged to journal. We can always look back to see and feel how much we have grown and changed.

[pinkeetoz]

Journaling helps me untangle the racing - half thought out, thoughts that I have in my mind. Alot of the time, I'm trying to avoid the thoughts that I have, so writing them down is something that I wish to avoid. Writing it down is where I face fears, it's in words, it's real. I have had many revelations in journaling. Journaling is helping me to find the real me and to face my fears. pinkee

[maria9201]

I think journaling is a good way to write about things that come to mind at times-but the confusion of where to start and what to do is there for me to. I definitely don't write as much as is recommended-i think it's hard to come face to face with fears at times--most of the time i just want to pretend like I don't have any fears. But i do. A lot of it also has to do with coming face to face with memories that i feel are not worth keeping-so i guess im in denial--that's not a suprise. Imagine what i could discover if i do this everyday. Thanks Dustin for writing about this best wishes for you and all on this journey.