How journaling can help you through hard moments

Marielle Segarra (0:02)

You're listening to Life Kit, from NPR.

Hey, it's Marielle. If I were to make a list of the things that scare a lot of people, a greatest hits list for our collective fears, here's what would be on it. Death, rejection, public speaking, spiders, showing up on the day of the midterm, two hours late and without a pencil, and the blank page. Yeah, I would put writer's block on that list of big scaries. So many of us are afraid to start writing because we judge ourselves, because we've been told we're no good at it, because we don't know what to say. But writer Suleika Jaouad is here to tell you it's worth your time to try.

Suleika Jaouad (0:45)

I've been keeping a journal for as long as I could hold a pen and have hundreds of journals from the time I was a kid.

And I think from a really early age, the journal to me felt like a sacred space, and a rare space where I got to show up as my most unedited, unvarnished self. And it wasn't for anyone, it was just for me.

Marielle Segarra (1:22)

It became an especially sacred space when Suleika was diagnosed with leukemia. And in the moment since, that she's been in cancer treatment or coping with its effects.

She says there's something about journaling that allows for a transmutation, a sort of alchemy.

Suleika Jaouad (1:37)

Which is to say, by the end of writing my way through a journal, I felt that some small shift had been enacted.

I felt a little lighter. It was the closest I felt and have felt to finding a direct line to my subconscious.

Marielle Segarra (1:59)

Even if she thought she had nothing of interest or import to say that day, or even if she wrote in sentence fragments or lists. Researchers have found that journaling can have health benefits. For instance, when people write about traumatic or stressful experiences, they see a boost in their immune function and lower blood pressure. They also make fewer stress-related trips to the doctor.

Suleika wrote a book about journaling. It's called The Book of Alchemy, a practice for a creative life. On this episode of Life Kit, we talk about journaling, why to do it, how to break through any resistance, and how to stay consistent even when or especially when you're going through a tough time.

Suleika Jaouad (2:37)

Fold it into some non-negotiable part of your routine.

For me, my one non-negotiable is my first cup of coffee in the morning. I sit down at my kitchen table each morning, and I write in my journal with that first cup. And it always happens because the coffee always happens. So whatever that is to you, try to do it in tandem.

Marielle Segarra (3:05)

We'll also share some prompts to get you started.

Do you think there's? I value particularly in journaling during the difficult moments of our lives.

Suleika Jaouad (3:21)

I think especially in the difficult moments of our lives, there's great value. In journaling, and to me, the journal.

Is the space that I go to to make sense of what has happened to me So. I have a little bit of a little bit of a journey to record the realizations, many of them painful, that come with having skills falling from the eyes moment, and the opportunity to reflect and to figure out how I'm going to choose my response. There are many days where I do not feel like journaling, where whatever comes out feels boring to me, or petty, or embarrassing even. But I think much like going to the gym, you do it consistently enough and you arrive to somewhere where you start to see something shift, you start to see its rewards. And I think in those moments in my life where I felt most laid bare, the journal has been a hiding place and a fighting place.

What about you? Do you have a practice of keeping a journal?

Marielle Segarra (4:43)

On and off.

I also have some journals that I kept when I was 19, and I look back at them and I cringe a bit. I'm like talking about some guy that I'm upset about, and I'm like, I'm so mad or whatever. Like I'm being dismissive of myself, but I think I'm like, wow, I had such overwhelming big feelings about something that I want to say doesn't really matter, like some person whose name I've forgotten, you know? It's hard to look at, to see how obsessive you were.

Suleika Jaouad (5:14)

Totally. I, as a rule, typically don't go back and reread my journals specifically for the reason that you're describing. I tend to read them with great judgment.