Write This Down. 5 Health Benefits You Need Right Now

Imagine a future day looking back on this season like looking through your senior yearbook from high school. There are going to be a lot of important faces you only recognize by picture. The highs and lows that will become the narrative we tell our kids. Some pages will have memories of those who did not make it to the end with us. A few of the awkward event photos will make us chuckle. What were we wearing? And Tiger King will forever be tied to the class of 2020.

Everyone keeps saying we are in unprecedented times and our leaders are taking unprecedented steps of action. And while that is true, we need context for what is unprecedented. We are not in unprecedented times of hardship. We are not experiencing an unprecedented number of deaths from one cause. And our communities are not responding in an unprecedented way.

We, humans, have done this before. And the ones before left behind guides for how we can survive and thrive. The key to recovering from the surprising start of 2020 is documenting and remembering.

Now is the time to record what is going on in our lives. We must write down what we are seeing happen, our feelings, our measures of preparedness, what we did and did not like about our experience, and who we are as individuals.

The other unprecedented events of the past are explained to us through the dairies, stories, and notes of those who lived through the time. Plus, there are countless psychology and sociology studies that have been conducted as to the beneficial, if not crucial, purpose of journaling through one’s struggles.

But why does journaling improve the hard times?

Everyone is affected to some degree by the COVID-19 pandemic and it is our responsibility to participate in our global community rather than extricate ourselves into self-sustained individual pod people.

So journaling, note taking, voice memo recording, personal vlogging is your personal contribution to the global community and your own health.

The five most noticeable health benefits to journaling during crisis are:

1. Strengthened Immune System

Dr. Pennebaker, author of Opening Up by Writing It Down, dedicated his clinical years working through the toughest cases of patient crisis. His research has been tested and confirmed that writing down your struggles leads to a healthier immune system.

Trauma and stress attack the body in ways that pills and medicinal therapy cannot always heal. Our best line of defense is to face our combatant head on by identifying our situation and writing our way through to recovery. Kira M. Newman of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkey promotes the practice of expressive writing through the benefits in her own personal journey to overcome trauma.

2. Clear Mind

Keeping records solidifies facts and details into our memories rather than letting it rely on vague emotions to guide us. Natalie Goldberg, an expert on Zen practices, says, “Whether you’re keeping a journal or writing as a meditation. What’s important is you’re having a relationship with your mind.”

Connecting your thoughts with your feelings forges a strong, clear relationship between your heart and mind that cannot easily be shaken by hardship.

3. Organized Lifestyle

Journaling the good, the bad, and the neutral trains us to recognize patterns in where we experience pleasure, find mental and physical sustenance, and how to avoid pain. Keeping a record of past experiences organizes our thoughts. Think about it the way you pack up to move. Journaling is the inventory step before organizing memories into categories. A personal account does not have to be neat and tidy at the beginning. But with time revisiting those thoughts will make them quickly accessible so they can be brought down from the shelf at a moment’s notice to provide guidance the next time we face something similar.

4. Positive Posture

When we feel good inside our body reflects that on the outside. From improved skin, to standing tall, to bright eyes. Practicing positivity comes out in our natural posture. To gain that strong stance the Greater Good Science Center suggests everyone needs to be keeping a gratitude journal right now. It is easy to feel overcome by new limitations, forced minimalism, and deprivation when truly we have so much around us. Taking time to sit at a table in proper posture and write will straighten up your form to a healthier pose.

5. Relaxed Muscles

Tense shoulders, tight backs, and stiff legs are a common affliction caused by stress. When we feel pushed to respond to what is happening around us, we silence notifications from our body telling us to breathe, stretch, or lengthen our spine. Over time the effects become compounded into soreness or at worse, muscle spasms and strains. Positive Psychology Online gathered up the leading research on journaling and offer over 83 clinical benefits to journaling. At the top of the list is relaxed, healthy muscles.

If you want to help others be healthy and of sound mind. Start writing. If you need a way to feel in control of everything that is swirling around us, keep a daily journal. If this is a forced self-reflective time and you want to remember some things you learned, record the details of life in 2020.

To help get you started I created a ten day starter journal for you. It is a free download and super easy to access. Submit your email as a new subscriber and it will be delivered promptly to your inbox. Each page is colorful and has a unique, psychology based prompt to turn your mind toward positive record keeping.

We are in this effort together yet each of us will have a unique experience. A few special moments have surfaced, but I believe the rich stories of humanity are yet to come out of this global event. Through the next two weeks there will be opportunities to share your journal or your experience with journaling. Together let’s create a healthy time capsule for the next unprecedented event.