Journaling?

I think I might try it. I think I need to get my emotions out on paper. Maybe that will work? Anyone else journal?

I've been journaling for a long time - over 25 years I think - I'm not always very consistent about it and there have been times I've gone a whole year between entries. But the volumes of books I have filled are a gold mine to me. To be able to look back and see where I was and how far I've come has been very valuable to my treatment and healing. It's been very therapeutic to have somewhere to just let it all out and not worry about anyone judging me for my thoughts and feelings. There are some really nice journals out there now - all sorts of fabrics, textures, leather. Half the fun is picking out a new book.

Ok, thanks, I started yesterday

I have been journaling for quite awhile too. There is something about seeing your thoughts and feelings on paper or a computer screen that helps to get control of them
Like the previous poster, I have a whole box full of these things -- going back and reading them later helps to see the progress I have made
As teacher both in community college and high school, I have taught students the value of writing as a learning tool. It really helps one focus and retain information.
There are some really nice journals available, or you can go to the store like me and by cheap spiral notebooks. I think the more you try journaling, the more helpful it will become. I really wish you well

i find myself writing really fast and have a lot to get off my chest.
its a great way to get your emotions out.
date it too, cuz how you feel today will change tomorrow.

Thank you, I did start yesterday and continued today.

That's how I was yesterday, I took up almost a full page. And I did date it, yesterdays was so long. And today's was short because I'm just kinda neutral right now which I guess is better than sad or angry.

I have started trying to keep a diary so many times, and I have never been able to keep it up. But lately instead of writing a diary entry each day, I just write when I need to. If I need to get out the emotions, I get a piece of paper and just write it all out. And I think it does help, it helps me to sort out what I'm feeling, and to vent, and it just makes me feel better. I'm glad you started I hope it helps some!

Me too, I always end up throwing it away for some reason. But not this time! I'm going to keep at it!

I've journaled for about 2 years now to deal with MDD and GAD. I find it helpful because I can write out my thoughts and think about them myself or discuss them with my T, and to keep a record of my feelings and what kinds of thought patterns and behaviors I keep repeating, or where I've changed. It's also written into my treatment plan that I WILL journal. I also alternate with a blog. www.296point3.blogspot.com

Journaling is the only thing that has kept me going. I get it out of my mind and onto paper but I never look at it again. Its great for when you are with a Therapist too they can see how you have been doing since they last saw you. Doctor the same way if you are taking any kind of medicine. Journaling for the past 20 years and more recently.

Take one day at a time and never look back.

Nice! I'm glad that it has helped! Hopefully it will help me.

Sometimes I look at past ones to see how angry or sad I was that day. And that's true about the therapist. I think it will help me express my emotions in a healthy way.

by journaling I can recover insights i had last month, last year,
or five years ago and not let them slip from sight.

I need every reason to remember , that she was not quite the
"Bee's knees" my memory makes her out to be.

_S_

Yeah, that's true. I don't get the "bee's knees" part though.

(((Sandworm)))--Over the years, I have filled many journals with my despair and grief related to my false expectations of those I have loved--whom I thought, believed were the "bees' Knees" in my life. My expectations of others these days is Nil. No one is the "bees knees"...just people...they all have "polka dots" and flaws.

As I prefer to leave past disappointments and sad things in the past; I have a ritual every New Years' Eve.

Once upon a time, I had a little Barbecue in the backyard of my house every New Years Eve which consisted of burning my false expectations of others; therefore my pain associated with it; all of which were in those journals for the year...loved to watch the embers float bright red, hot up into the cold, dark sky in the silent night...marking an end to the old year...the old pain. I no longer own my home, thus, no backyard to perform this little ritual in the privacy of my solitude.

These days I simply shred all my journals every New Years' Eve.

Journaling is a great way to vent...have done it all my loooong life...I look at them during the course of one year.......then, like all the rest of my writing.......my sorrow.....my fears......and all that I have learned about myself, keeping the knowledge which is useful and I can grow from with me, inside me..................the rest is like my tears......like the rain..........like the demons which haunted me...........

I ignite and extinguish these that I may begin the Year anew~~~~~~Pax, theo

You really get rid of your journal at the end of the year? I don't think I could do that, lol, so much thought and pain goes into it. But I guess it's good to not look back at all the pain.

I use to journal and it really did help me. Getting my feeling out on paper kept me sane for the most part. But then one of my family members wanted to be noisy so she took my journal, read it, and told all her little gossip buddies what I wrote. I was extremely upset. So now, I don't trust anybody and I don't write my feelings down anymore. And a couple weeks of me not writing in my journal and just keeping my feelings bottled up, I started to feel sick. Like mentally ill. She took the only thing that helped me deal with my feelings and I think that's so messed up! Look at me now.. I need serious help.

Finally someone who treats journaling as I do! I destroy most of what I journal, or at least I did until my t asked me to try hard not to do so. I don't like reading my negative thoughts, and this is usually what comes out in journals. I don't even respect what I write enough to read it and then have a big reflection/celebration, as Theodora does. I just write, rip up, and start over another time.

Bluemountains

That's what I'm afraid of... someone finding it. I'm so sorry to hear that, I would be extremely upset too! Maybe you could talk to someone about your feelings? A close friend? Or something... I don't know, I don't have anyone to talk to about my emotions. And I'm starting to think I need serious help too. I just started crying, and couldn't stop until I heard my mom call my name from the kitchen, so I wiped my eyes and face as good as I could and ran out there and tried to smile.

I don't have anyone else to talk to except you guys on PC. So I guess posting things on PC is like my new journal for me. I'm sorry you had to do that. I think it's so sad that we cant be open with our loved ones. We have to hide our true feelings on a daily basis..

Same here. I want to tell someone sooo bad but I don't know who. Especially because I've had a bad day. Yes it is sad, and the best I can do is just get through day. I don't know what to do anymore.

I totally agree with you WhereDidSheGo.

I journal a lot; for awhile it was everyday then it dropped off for a bit and now back to at least once a week or more of the need arises. I always feel so much better after writing in my journal; it's like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

It's good to hear that journaling is helping people. Hopefully it will feel the same for me.