The Advantages Of Journaling As A Medical Professional
Journaling has a variety of mental health advantages, including reducing anxiety.
It's beneficial for anyone who feels trapped in some facet of life or wants a fresh start.
When you're just searching for a way to improve your self-care regimen, journaling can be highly beneficial.
If you’re not into writing on paper, there are certainly several ways to experience journaling that match your personal goals.
Writing in a physical journal has no established benefits that cannot be achieved by typing, journaling on a phone app, or using audio notes.
The ideal media for journaling can be anything a person uses regularly.
For some, traditionally, writing with a pen on paper is the greatest way to process their thoughts and slowly write and analyze their emotions.
Others may prefer typing digitally because of its speed and convenience.
Tech-based publications have the additional advantage of being more
convenient to anyone with a physical disability.
The Benefits Of Journaling
Journaling Enhances Self-Awareness
At its most basic level, self-awareness is the understanding of who you are and how others perceive you.
Self-awareness is a core skill that may help you find joy in relationships, work, and life.
It can be enhanced and sustained by getting therapy, adopting good listening skills, and prioritizing meditation and mindfulness in your practice.
As it stands, journaling can help you develop self-awareness.
Journaling helps you become more inquisitive about yourself and your surroundings and allows you to take a step back and evaluate other people's points of view on a problem.
Journaling Promotes Stress Reduction
The most well-known benefit of journaling is the improvement of general mental health.
One study evaluated the effects of journaling on people's mental health.
The study found that those who practiced self-care had a higher mental fortitude, less anxiety, and a better life.
The test subjects noticed these improvements after just four weeks of writing.
Journaling gives us space to think about the root causes of our anxiety and burnout and develop ways for addressing our fear and depression.
Journaling Releases Emotions
Ever wondered why the moody kid on practically every show keeps a journal.
It made things more bearable for them by writing down their misguided views.
Journaling allows you to get things off your chest.
Journaling provides you with a safe space to speak your mind by saying what you might not be able to say in certain situations or to your colleagues or patients.
By allowing yourself to communicate your unfiltered feelings, you relinquish the power they have over you.
Mood Enhancement
Journaling has the potential to boost your mood as a medical practitioner.
It gives us an outlet for the bad thoughts and emotions that would otherwise dwell in our heads.
Journaling can also help people feel better.
So, by journaling, you're indicating that you really want to take better care of yourself.
The simple act of being reminded that you are a person deserving of attention can lift your spirits.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Journaling as a Medical Practitioner
Ask Yourself Questions
While writing in your journal, ask yourself questions.
You can just scribble whatever comes to mind or take it a step further by asking yourself questions about what you're thinking to get a better understanding of reality.
Consider it a form of self-interview.
In some cases, the answers may assist you in making judgments or determining necessary changes.
Take a look at these questions:
- What am I hoping for?
- What can I do to change the result?
- What can I do to make this easier on myself?
- What can I do to prepare for upcoming challenges?
- What about this fascinates me?
- In this situation, how can I practice self-care?
Make It A Daily Habit
The advantages of journaling are great if you commit to journaling — ideally, everyday — in order to reap them.
It's important to write at least a brief journal entry on a daily basis.
This isn't to say that skipping a day or two should make you feel bad or as if you've failed.
Journaling is a strategy to recognize your emotional and psychological needs, yet not journaling is also a way to honor those needs.
There's no need to force it if you do not like it.
According to one study, journaling for as little as 10-15 minutes thrice a week can help with stress and give your brain a boost.
Journal reminders can help you get back into the habit of writing and motivate you to do so.
If that doesn't help, try asking yourself a few investigative questions to determine what's causing the problem. Such as:
- What motivates me to start journaling right now?
- What is it about journaling that interests me?
- What barriers do I see to journaling regularly, and how might I overcome them?
- How does it feel to be writing in my journal once again?
- What can I do this time to make the procedure more comfortable for me so that I can continue to maintain journaling?
Don't Be Too Concerned About Grammar
This is not the place to show off your spelling and punctuation skills.
It's better to concentrate on writing the words down than worrying about grammatical errors.
Correcting every typo and misspelled word might make it harder to connect with your feelings since it causes you to move away from your emotions and into your intellect.
If you're guilty of proofreading your work while typing, consider switching to a real diary and a pen instead of a pencil, so you're not tempted to return, edit and correct any mistakes.
Conclusion
Writing a letter to yourself is therapeutic, while for others, simply writing lists and messages is more beneficial.
Maintaining an easy, engaging, and creative journaling practice is important.
Prioritizing your mental health and managing your stress as a medical practitioner to be of service to yourself, your career, co-workers, and patients should be your goal.