Why Baby Boomers Should Keep a Journal

Since I’ve kept a journal since the age of 12 and am a writer by profession, maybe I’m biased. All the same, I’m a firm believer in keeping a journal.

When I was a teen, I wrote in my diary every day. These days I’m not quite so studious, but I still write in a journal about once a month. And of course, I share my thoughts and feelings on a regular basis in this blog.

In my opinion, the benefits of writing in a journal cannot be overstated. Science just so happens to support this belief. Journaling has been proven to improve mental and physical health.

In case you need a little inspiration to put pen to paper, here are five reasons to keep a journal:

1. Journaling helps you learn about yourself. By regularly recording your thoughts and feelings you can gain insight into your behaviors and moods. You’ll get to know who and what makes you happy and what situations and people to avoid. Consequently, journaling will help you avoid repeating mistakes which leads to increased self-esteem and personal growth.
2. Writing can help you express sadness, fear, pain, or anger, releasing the intensity of these feelings. That’s makes journaling an important tool for your emotional well-being and stress reduction. You’ll find it easier to cope with life and work through frustrations by writing them down. In addition, journaling can help you heal from grief and loss. Trust me, it’s a wonderful outlet!
3. Journaling can be used for problem-solving and resolving disagreements with others. Writing about misunderstandings can help you to understand another person’s perspective, clarify issues, and hopefully help you come up with sensible resolutions. When we record significant lessons we’ve learned in life, we gain a deeper understanding, insight, and hopefully some wisdom to help us with future problems.
4. Keeping a journal helps you remember important events and hang on to feelings and memories that would otherwise fade or be lost altogether. In addition, you’ll be able to keep track of personal triumphs so that when a seemingly impossible situation arises, you’ll be reminded that you have resolved and overcome previous dilemmas in the past and can do so again. As a result, you’ll find motivation and strength from earlier successes to prevail again.
5. Journals are a great place to outline your plans, ideas, goals, and dreams. When you write, things come to light that, for some reason, don’t when you talk or think about them. The importance of committing to our goals in writing cannot be overstated.

Those are just five reasons – if you research the Internet you can find plenty more.

In my next blog, I’ll give you some ideas on how you can get started and different methods of journaling available today. Which one is best for you? Stay tuned. Whatever method you choose, journals can be a huge benefit to you personally and enlightening to anyone you share them with.