- Hey everybody, happy Thursday.
Now today we're going to talk all about journaling
but before we jump into that, are you new to my channel?
Welcome, I release videos on Mondays and on Thursdays
so make sure you're subscribed
and have your notifications turned on.
And I also have a book coming out December 11th.
You can pre-order through the link in the description
but let's get into today's question.
Kati, could you maybe do a video on journaling?
How do you start, what do you write about?
Is there any direction or just what's on your mind?
And what if your mind is completely blank?
Thank you!
Of course, I'll do a video about this.
I realize I talk about journaling all the time,
yet I've never really gotten into how to journal,
and how to start and what if you don't even know what
to write down, so, thanks for asking.
I think the most common misconception
about journaling is that it has to be like keeping a diary.
Where we have to know what we want to write
and we have to write it out,
kind of like, in a certain form.
That it needs to flow, it needs to make sense,
if we read it back like 10 years from now,
we'd be like, oh, I remember that day.
That's not what journaling has to be.
It can be for some people.
But the reason journaling can help so much
and the reason that I encourage people to do it.
Is because we can find a way to use it to our benefit.
And the main benefit being, that we have a place to vent
or a way to process through all that's going on.
Things that maybe went on in our past
or things that are happening today
or last week, just gives us a place to kinda, talk about it.
And so some people prefer to write it out, like a story.
Like, hey, you know this week's been a little rough,
it started off with this thing at work
and some people like to write it like that.
Kind of in a letter form or a story form.
But most people, don't.
Most of my patients enjoy keeping bullet,
we call them like, I think there's a whole thing now,
like bullet journals, I don't even know if this
is really what a bullet journal is,
I just know that my patients like to do bullet points.
Like, today was a good day, I got to ride my horse
for the first time in 20 days or whatever,
I feel so much better, I felt anxious in the morning
and then later I felt, happy.
Basic stuff like that, just bullet points
throughout your day, week or, two or three weeks,
however often you journal.
And it could also be something as simple
as just tracking your mood or symptoms.
Going back to that kind of bullet idea,
a lot of my patients who don't like to journal
will say that they just write down
three or four emotions they felt that day
or symptoms they experienced,
and especially if we're starting a new medication,
I always, always have my patients track their symptoms
as much as they can, at least three days a week
for the next month.
I know that sounds intense
but it's important that we note how we're doing.
Because we often, when we start medication,
won't recognize if we have a side effect sometimes
'cause it's not that intense
and maybe we think we just ate something weird
and that's why we're nauseous.
Or we won't even know if the medications
really working for us because we haven't been tracking
how we've been doing.
And so, basically, I guess journaling can be just a way
to track those symptoms, to write down,
today, I slept well last night,
I got seven hours of solid sleep.
My appetite seems pretty normal,
my energy level's pretty normal,
although I got tired right after lunch.
I know that stuff sounds silly
but it's really, really helpful
when it comes to medication,
as well as when you're tracking on your treatment plan
with your therapist how well you're doing.
And if you're improving and working towards your goals.
I also ask my patients sometimes to bring in their journals.
Whether it's like tracking bullet points of symptoms
or it's journals as a whole, so that I can take a look
at certain entries that they, say it's okay,
and they feel it's appropriate
but it allows me to see how the tools
that I'm asking them to use are working
when I'm not with them.
Often times, we forget how things are really going
and a week can feel like a really long time.
And so, keeping track in a journal,
just jotting some things down
can help your therapist stay on point with you
and meet you where you're at.
So that I know what you're working on,
I know what's working or not
and then I can adapt what I'm doing with you
so that you get better more quickly
and feel like we're in it together.
And so, those kinds of bullet points
and tracking symptoms are things you can do
when your mind is just blank
and you don't even know where to start.
And I find, that if we actually do have a lot
that maybe we need to vent, 'cause the whole goal
of journaling is to have a place
where you can vent all that you're going through
safely and healthfully, versus using an unhealthy
coping skill, like drinking, self-injury, eating disorders,
overspending, any of that stuff.
Anyways, what I find is, is that when we do that
basic tracking, if we have a lot to share
it comes out anyways.
While we're just writing down what's happening
and how we're feeling, we can be prompted
and while we're writing, be like, oh yeah!
And then that thing was really frustrating
and (blabbers)
And we can fill pages and pages
of our journal without even realizing it.
Thinking that our mind was blank and we weren't able to.
And I honestly hypothesize that that's because
we can feel like pressure to journal.
We can feel pressure to tell a story,
when, in reality, we maybe don't have a full story
we just have this situation that's really frustrating
and then we're feeling all of this.
And so if we, sneak our way in
by just tracking symptoms and tracking
how we're doing, then everything else comes out.
And that's when journaling really, works for us.
And also I just want to mention that journaling doesn't work
for everybody, some, not at all.
Some of my patients don't even like to track any symptoms
and I have to really push them to at least
tell me three to five emotions they felt that day.
If that's the case, there's art and music.
We can collage while we think about what's going on.
We can, if we play guitar
or sing you can make a song up
while you think about the past couple of weeks of your life
or the day that's been really hard or really good.
I encourage you to use other art forms and other things
to express what we're going through.
And that's a really cool thing,
if you sculpt, or if you want to sculpt,
if you like, like I said, collages or any other painting,
any kind of form of an art that you can pull out
that can also be another way to express
all that may be going on in our head.
Because, I find that most of us aren't even aware
of what's going on.
In fact, when I was writing my book,
I had asked a bunch of people in my life,
like my mom, and Sean, and some of my close friends,
hey could you give me some examples,
I'm gonna include these things in the book.
Like three to five emotions that you feel.
And a lot of them, were like, I don't even know,
how do I figure it out?
And I realized at that point, I was like, oh my god,
most of us don't even check in.
And so, just finding some way to check in,
Meditation is even a good thing
or doing yoga, all of this can surprisingly
bring up what's going on inside that
we might not even be privy to.
A lot of times we're just stuffing things down
and going about our day not even engaging.
And so I think that that's truly
why journaling is so beneficial.
But again, journaling can come in many forms
for many different people.
I hope you found that helpful, what a great question
and I think this will really help a lot of people
who hear me talk about journaling,
how important it is , all the time
and don't even know where to start.
But if you have any tips and tricks
on how you've gotten started in journaling
or what form of journaling you use.
Will you let us know in those comments down below
and I will see you next time, bye!
(contemplative piano music)