Why Journaling Saved Me When Nothing Else Worked

I have always been better at writing how I feel than saying it out loud. There could be a million thoughts racing through my head, and not a single word will come out correctly. But if you hand me a pen and a piece of paper, I can write exactly what’s going on every thought, every feeling, all at once in a clear, clean list.

Between therapy, shit posting on Instagram, and crashing out on my close friends, nothing was working. I could get the thoughts out temporarily, but they always lingered. The noise never fully stopped.

One night while doom scrolling, I came across a video of a girl reading her old journals. It instantly took me back to childhood, when I wrote everything down. There was nothing I wouldn’t put in my journal every thought, every emotion, every person.

That stopped in eighth grade, when my parents read my journal out loud. It turned into a humiliation ritual one they probably didn’t even realize they were participating in. And because I wrote about everyone, nobody was spared.

So there I was, years later, thinking: I don’t live with my parents. And I don’t think anyone in their right mind wants to read what’s going on in my head.

So I tried journaling again.

And it has been one of the most powerful things I’ve ever done in my healing and reset journey.

There are four specific things I do when I journal that have helped me not only get my thoughts out, but also change my daily habits, emotional patterns, and relationships. I want to share them.

1. Write the Thing You Don’t Want to Write About First

This sounds simple, but it’s not.

We all know that feeling when we’re overwhelmed our mind is racing, emotions are tangled, and everything feels loud. But there’s always one thing we don’t want to acknowledge. The thing we don’t want to talk about, write about, or even name.

That’s where I start.

It doesn’t have to be a paragraph. It doesn’t have to be poetic. It doesn’t even have to be a sentence. Sometimes I just write the name. The place. The situation.

When I can physically see it on the page, it’s like the hundred other thoughts in my head freeze and stare at it. That one word pinpoints the emotion I’m actually feeling and often takes me back to the exact moment where everything started.

2. Revisit the Root , Without a Victim Mindset

Once I identify the root, I revisit it—not from a place of victimhood, but from curiosity.

I ask myself:

• What could have been done differently?
• Why did this affect me so deeply?
• Why is this being triggered now?
• If this is recent, why is it eating me alive?

Then I write the feelings. Sometimes it’s pages. Sometimes it’s a paragraph. Sometimes it’s a single word.

The goal isn’t to solve it immediately it’s to document it honestly. So that if I ever end up in that emotional space again, I can come back, reread, and see whether I’ve grown, stayed the same, or regressed—and know what needs to change.

3. Read It Out Loud

This part is uncomfortable but powerful.

When you read something out loud, it hits differently. Sometimes I read something that made me furious, and I end up laughing because I realize it’s not as serious as it felt. Sometimes I read something that makes me cry but even then, there’s clarity.

Reading it out loud gives the emotion an identity.

I think one of the biggest issues in society is how normalized emotional suppression has become. Acting “nonchalant” isn’t strength it’s avoidance. Our brains are too complex to pretend nothing bothers us.

When I read my words out loud, I feel human. It validates my emotions. It reminds me that I’m not crazy. That what I’m feeling makes sense—and that now I have to deal with it instead of running from it.

4. Date It, and Thank the Universe

The final step is dating the entry and thanking God, the universe, or whatever higher power you believe in for letting me experience it and make it out alive.

The beauty of journaling is reflection.

There are entries I’ve reread that once broke my heart. I remember rereading old entries about a man I was deeply upset about losing thinking my life was over.

And I laughed. I mean cackled.

I was devastated over a loser. You would’ve thought I lost Bill Gates the way I was carrying on, when in reality, I lost a man who didn’t even like me and secretly wanted to be me.

My chest was tight for weeks back then.

Years later, I read those entries with gratitude. I was thankful I wasn’t that version of myself anymore. Even though I didn’t love myself fully at the time, I loved myself just enough to walk away—and that changed everything.

Why Everyone Should Journal

Journaling has given me a creative revival and a safe outlet to release what I carry. I truly believe everyone should journal.

It teaches us that:

• Having feelings is okay.
• Emotions are not weakness.
• Sensitivity is human, not shameful.
• You can’t communicate with others until you learn how to communicate with yourself.

The journal is just you and your thoughts no judgment, no audience, no performance.

If you do nothing else this year, get a journal. Write until you can’t write anymore. Your feelings matter. You are human. And one day, you’ll look back and realize just how much you survived and how much you’ve grown.