When I named this site “Journaling Saves,” I wasn’t kidding.
Journaling has saved my life in many ways, both literally and metaphorically. I’d like to tell you a little bit about it so you understand my history, my mission and how we got to Our Origin Story.
Before I dive in and make this all about me, you should know it’s all about you, too. Journaling is a powerful tool but it’s not a cure-all. So if you need actual saving of any kind, please scroll down to the Resources part of this page and reach out to someone who can help you. You deserve to feel safe and supported.❤️
Survival planning
As a quiet and confused child, I didn’t feel a sense of belonging in my school, social circle, or even my family. But journaling gave me a safe space to keep myself company and dream about better days. I could muddle through another day because my journal and I were a team, and I could be my own best friend on its pages.
Journaling coached me through rough early transitions: an overwhelming first year at college that didn’t go as planned, starting my first job after graduation, beginning my new life under the weight of staggering debt.
It helped me survive the ending of my first big relationship. Before the break-up conversation, I wrote a specific journal entry to read immediately after we talked. I knew I needed out of the relationship desperately, and I also knew it would be hard to make that leap. So I crafted a journal entry written directly to myself, encouraging me and supporting my decision. It included a favorite quote from the briliant Julia Cameron from The Artist’s Way:
Each moment, taken alone, is always bearable. In the exact NOW, we are always alright.
I tattooed a reminder of this wisdom on my wrist – where I can always see it while I’m journaling.
In the exact NOW, we are always alright.
Insight + adventure
Frequent journaling underscored how essential creative work is to me, and put me back in touch with my priorities. It helped me realize my current career was not a good fit, brainstorm a way out, and feel supported on the other side. I could’ve been stuck doing everyone else’s important work for the rest of my life. Instead, getting in touch with that part of myself lead to a job that changed the trajectory of my life forever.
And so journaling was my guide and constant friend as I drove cross-country in pursuit of music and adventure. I arrived in Seattle with no job, no friends, no apartment… just a deep belief in myself and the magic of filling the blank page. Those journals are thick with life, color, exploration, and love. They are snapshots of Seattle, of my new life and experiences – richly textured and detailed. Their stories bring me joy and I revisit those notebooks often.
The Awakery
A few years ago, journaling saved my life when I contracted Lyme Disease and began several years of recovery at a glacial pace. I created a dedicated wellness journal I called “Awakery.” It was a special volume I got at the Moleskine notebook flagship store in San Francisco. I embossed it there to mark the beginning of this healing transformation.
I filled one dated page per day with syptoms, progress, plans, feelings, and data to bring to my doctors.
When I started to feel better and began exercising again, I used a new Awakery journal to track my progress and stay motivated throughout my lifesaving transformation.
I finished several of these journals and I recommend them as a solution to anyone going through a lengthy process they want to track.
It’s all in your head
Journaling has been an invaluable tool in my mental health, as well. We all go through dark times and struggle in one way or another. I’m a person living with bipolar disorder and debilitating anxiety. Tracking this experience in my journal not only gives me a tool for discussion with my health care professionals, it helps me feel heard in the moment. I’ve created breadcrumbs for getting back to myself. I see the evidence on the page that it hasn’t always been dark and unmanageable. So I realize it won’t always be like that in the future, and I can hold on another day.
I also leveraged journaling to quit smoking cigarettes in 2020, a lfe-long affliction that would’ve killed me eventually. I wrote a series on the website that you can use to quit any addiction or unwanted behavior: 7 Easy Steps to be a Better Quitter.
Exploded view
Journaling has been my companion through dark and lonely times when I may have given up, scrapped the dream, turned the car around, stayed stuck, married the wrong person, indulged fatal temptation, or stayed in the city that was trying to kill me. I could’ve drowned in debt, eliminated any chance of living the life I wanted, stayed isolated and alone, avoided life-saving connection and refused help when I needed it.
But I didn’t. The insight and self-awareness I gain from daily journaling is that powerful.
We feel the power of journaling when we write: “Something’s not working here…” or, “Something feels dangerous or off here…” Or my favorite: “I keep writing about this one thing over and over and it’s killing me…” It gives us awareness of missteps before they’re catastrophic or irreversible, and provides the tools to find a way out.
I imagine it sounds like hyperbole, but that’s been my real experience while journaling daily for more than 30 years.
When to seek help
While journaling is a powerful tool for physical and mental health, it is not a cure-all or solution for all of life’s challenges. Please, please, please reach out to a qualified professional if you feel unsafe, lonely, in danger, unstable, scared, or in need of human assistance and connection. There are many resources available to help you.
These are two I recommend:
Scatter Joy Project: I’m a longtime supporter of the Scatter Joy Project and believe deeply it its mission: “Fueled by a belief in intentional conversations, raised voices, dismantled barriers, and enhanced accessibility, its goal is to make mental health care more affordable for all.” If you need help and lack the funding, please visit their site to learn more.
988 Lifeline: This powerful resource allows you to call or text 988 to be connected with an array of services. You don’t have to be suicidal to call. Substance use disorder, economic worries, relationships, culture and identity, illness, intimate partner violence, depression, mental and physical illness, and loneliness are all struggles to seek help for. I’m personally grateful that LGBTQI+ youth can access 24/7 support by texting PRIDE. They’ll be connected with a counselor that truly understands their unique needs. I have many people from the LGBTQI+ community in my life, including my own transgender teen.
Journaling is a powerful tool and has been indispensable in my survival of this life. But it is not a cure-all. You deserve to feel safe and supported so please reach out for help when you need it.❤️
Light and love on your journey of self-saving.
