So Cool – Journaling Reduces Stress

Writing takes on many forms and shapes – the academic writing you do for class, the personal essays you write to get into graduate school, the poems you pen for a loved one, or the prose you draft for your forthcoming memoir.

And like so many, you might keep a journal (with or without heart-shaped lock circa elementary school).

Writer and humorist David Sedaris makes a great case for keeping a journal:

“I’ve been keeping a diary for thirty-three years and write in it every morning. Most of it’s just whining, but every so often there’ll be something I can use later: a joke, a description, a quote. It’s an invaluable aid when it comes to winning arguments. ‘That’s not what you said on February 3, 1996,” I’ll say to someone.”

But there may be something else to those “dear diary” entries.

Research was recently done about the benefits of journaling and the impact it can have on our stress levels – specifically, the habit of journaling can make us less stressed out! And who doesn’t want that?

Folks at the University of Minnesota “found that noting your accomplishments and positive events at the end of the day and why those things made you feel good helps to reduce your stress levels.”

And if you need to de-stress even further, try your hand at making your own journal. Very cool tutorial (and photo above) found here.