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How Does Journal Therapy Work?
I forgot how powerful journal therapy can be.
Let me start by stating that I am in no way a medical professional, therapist, or the like. All of what I know is based on many different life experiences over the years.
From the mid-90s through about 2004 I journaled regularly. I have multiple formerly blank books filled with many thoughts, feelings, intentions, and ideas from that period.
When I maintained those journals, I was writing as little as weekly and as frequently as daily. But I dropped personal thoughts in there, examined experiences I had had, lamented problems and negative situations, and all sorts of other, deeply personal things.
To be blunt — most of them are terribly depressing. I was not in a good space during much of that time.
Looking back, I know I spent most of my 20s and 30s with little to no direction, a penchant for indecision, and loads of inaction. I was living utterly in fear of being abandoned and left friendless if I succeeded or failed. So, I tended to do little to nothing.
Over the next 15 years plus, I spent a lot of time on the now-defunct LiveJournal and started blogging. Maintaining a handwritten journal fell to the wayside. My last journal book was started in 2004 and today is still not entirely…
