Why You Should Start Journaling When Life Feels Overwhelming

I dare you to read this first paragraph without wandering to the next tab. Be honest, when was the last time you’ve picked up a pen and paper and poured out your raw emotions? Honest answers, no shame. Did you say anywhere over a day? We live in a world where being busy has become a status symbol, you are not to blame. Our algorithms feed us the practically impossible expectation to prosper academically, socially, financially and physically. We often mistake burnout and reframe it as the fruits of our labor. So, realistically speaking, do we even have time to sit down and journal?

I remember being freshly 20 and feeling the urge to level-up my life with the turn of the new decade. I was young and craving the ‘NYC It-Girl’ lifestyle my feeds fed me. I’ve done everything to place down the building blocks for “my new life”.

I had secured a paid marketing internship, worked part-time, and attended school full-time while pursuing my Business Administration degree. After plopping my overloaded schedule into a vibrant Google Calendar you’d assume the lack of gaps in my schedule would overwhelm me. 

No. Rather the visual confirmed that I was working to build a lifestyle worth losing sleep over. This felt like I was doing the right thing. My story is not unique. Tons of young women have been fed this “work now, play later” mindset as motivation to push through the pressure to keep up. This might seem like me rambling but trust me, there is a point. 

When I was not working towards my dreams, I often filled my free time on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram doomscrolling on my feed. I was targeted with videos of girls my age achieving their dreams all while maintaining similar hectic schedules. @user287478 got a new apartment? @user482432 got admitted to an Ivy League graduate program? @user382997 posted a new ‘day in my life’ video? I’d put down my phone and become taken over by an envy fueled desire to push harder. 

Scroll, work. Scroll, work. Scroll, work. After a few months of trying to maintain a picture-perfect lifestyle, I did not achieve “post-worthy” results. I had abandoned my social life, my grades were slipping and my mental health was at an all-time low. Why could they achieve it but not me? What was wrong with me? Am I a failure? I was slowly spiraling into a loop where I questioned my own self-worth and capabilities.

My chest tightened. I felt suffocated. My body was flooded with tension that needed to be released. So, what did I do? I grabbed a pen, a piece of paper and wrote. Furiously scribbling what appeared incoherent, but read perfectly in my mind. After a few lines I felt content and dropped the pen down. I recall feeling a gradual relief. Why did I not try this sooner? What appeared as a one-time release soon became engraved into my daily routine. 

With time, the tension I once carried started to vanish. I found myself less consumed by my feed, and more in tune with my own thoughts. I used to think journaling needed a big, bold reason. Turns out, having something to say is a reason enough.

So, why did our generation stop journaling? Well that is a trick question. We never stopped. Open your notes app and sift through your last entries. Remember that text draft you triple checked to send during a heated back-and-forth. What about the never-ending vent session you typed because the group chat was asleep at 3 AM. Believe it or not, the spirit of journaling thrives within you. 

You made it here. You didn’t wander to the next tab.

Maybe that's the whole point. We're not incapable of sitting still, we just haven't been given a reason to. Somewhere between the scroll and the spiral, we forget that we already know how to do this. The notes app, the unsent texts, the group chat rants. That was always journaling minus the big J name.

I gave mine one. Not because I had it figured out, but because I needed somewhere to put it all down. If any part of this made you pause, even for a second, that might be worth listening to. 

Pick up the pen. See what's been waiting to come out. 

If you need somewhere to start, that's exactly why I made 30 Things I Never Said Out Loud — a journal for the things you've been carrying but haven't said.

Until Next Time,
Hussna
The Sweetheart Mail ♡