Journaling can be one of those things where you have been told a million times over of how incredible it is for your mental health and wellbeing, but you don’t ever take it seriously enough to either do it regularly or at all.
We often come up with excuses of why we can’t do the things we know can make us feel better or can help us in our healing journey, they can look like:
📖 They can’t be that good…
📖 I’m too busy…
📖 I just don’t know how…
It is easy to get overwhelmed when you think about journaling, but that’s because we have this unrealistic expectation that we have to write pages and pages for it to work, but this is simply not true.
You can write as little or as much as you like, even a few short sentences can make a difference in the long run.
Sexual trauma can be an uncomfortable topic to talk about, especially when you have experienced it, which is why writing it down can be so beneficial for sexual trauma survivors.
We often find it difficult to say the words we are thinking, which is why writing it down can make it easier and often a more successful way of clearing your mind.
Sexual trauma has a cunning way of feasting on you and your happiness, leaving you feeling lonely, hopeless, or numb. These feelings can weigh you down more than you even realise, which can be overwhelming and terrifying for your mind to deal with; like an over-filled cardboard box ready to break at any given minute.
"Sexual trauma has a cunning way of feasting on you and your happiness, leaving you feeling lonely, hopeless, or numb."
Because of this, our memories and emotions become suppressed inside of us and only when we are in a similar situation do we react. However, journaling about your trauma can help you gain a sense of understanding of your trauma, it helps you to process your emotions in a rational way to give your mind and body a break.
It can be a great asset to your healing journey, by reflecting on what helps you and what triggers you. This way, you have the opportunity to gain back control that you may feel has been ripped away from you, while releasing the emotions the experience has given you.
You may feel like you could face judgement if you speak up to someone. However, journaling allows you to speak freely about your feelings or experiences without the fear of being judged.
Similarly, you may feel like you have all of these words you wish to write, but don’t know where to begin, but you can find thousands of prompts online that can point you in the right direction.
To conclude, let's look at some of the benefits of journaling:
📖 Provides you with access to regain power and sense of self
📖 Enables a way to track your journey and your progress
📖 Allows you to be creative (it doesn’t have to be “I feel…” it could be a story or a letter to yourself or even your perpetrator)
📖 Reduces stress and tension that we hold physically and mentally
📖 Helps to put things in perspective
📖 Provides a sense of freedom
Comments