When I tell people I’m the founder of a journaling company, I’m often met with questions and (occasionally) blank stares. Questions like: “Journaling, like what I did in high school?!” to “Why journaling, were you always a journaler?”
To answer those questions:
No, I wasn’t always a journaler, aside from dabbling with it on and off throughout high school. My true love for journaling came after the birth of my first child, in 2019 when I experienced postpartum depression. Postpartum depression knocked me to the ground.
I remember crying in the bathroom my first night at home, feeling so overwhelmed and unprepared for motherhood. The crying persisted throughout the weeks, along with a feeling of wanting to run away and not feeling connected to my son—a feeling I hated.
During this time, I was also experiencing challenges with breastfeeding and on a triple feeding schedule—which is something I wouldn’t wish upon anybody. This means I was nursing, followed by supplementing with formula and pumping. The stress of this incredibly demanding physical output compounded everything I was already feeling.
Now with the experience of two kids under my belt, it’s easy to look back and think — why didn’t I just go to formula right away and make my life easier.
While I didn’t let myself suffer in silence for too long, why did I let myself suffer at all?
Once I opened up to my husband, family and a close friend who went through PPD, I was encouraged to seek help immediately. I called my doctor, went in the very next day, and walked out with a prescription for Lexpro and a referral for a therapist.
I feel grateful that I had such a supportive network around me—and a proactive doctor, as I know many women aren’t as lucky.
Therapy and medicine helped me find my feet again (within weeks of beginning both, I started feeling better), and journaling helped me find myself again.
While in therapy, my therapist suggested journaling as an additional tool to help.
She thought it could be useful in helping me release the running thoughts through my mind and remember anything that came up between sessions that I wanted to talk about. I loved journaling and my practice stuck, long after I finished the sessions and medicine. Nearly five years into motherhood and journaling is still a part of my routine — and more than that, it’s what my business is focused on, too!
Now, why journaling? During my time in therapy, my therapist emphasized one important thing she thought journaling would be useful for getting all the thoughts running through my mind, out.
Many studies have confirmed the therapeutic benefits of journaling and the mental release that comes with writing a feeling or negative thought down. And I can confirm this.
What I’ve learned through my journaling practice is that my thoughts do not define me — in motherhood or life.
The simple act of releasing these negative thoughts by writing them down helps me detach from them and realize that they are just that: thoughts. After I journal, and especially after a particularly challenging day, I immediately feel at least a little bit better and lighter (and being in the thick of it with two young kids right now, many days feel challenging).
Similar to how I feel after working out, going on a walk, or getting some sunshine — while my problem might not be resolved, I feel better and can show up and tackle it with a renewed perspective.
My journal is also a safe space for me to process the challenges and joys of parenting, helping me detach from thoughts that do not serve me and giving me the emotional bandwidth to show up fully for my kids.
However, I think the most powerful elements my journaling practice has given me is that it’s helped me gain clarity and confidence in being myself.
Journaling has helped me gain a quiet confidence in myself that shows up in the way I mother and the way I live my life. As someone with traits of being a highly sensitive person and people-pleasing tendencies, this has been incredibly impactful (those tendencies are still there, don’t get me wrong, but holding boundaries and honoring myself gets a little easier each time). I can better navigate the emotional ups and downs of motherhood, understanding my patterns, triggers and responses more clearly, which enables me to respond to situations with greater empathy and patience.
As moms, we have so much on our plates and it can be a challenge to prioritize time for ourselves.
That’s the most common question I’m often asked—how on earth do I make time for journaling? My honest answer is now that I’ve had a taste of how journaling regularly positively impacts my mental health, I can’t go back. I discovered journaling at a time when I was so desperate to feel better, I would’ve tried anything. But it’s become a foundation in my routine because it works. My journaling practice is my five-minute moment to breathe, reflect, and reset.
I aim to journal four times per week, give or take, as part of my bedtime routine, and I definitely notice a difference in my mood and mindset when I go too long between journaling sessions (I’m only human and sometimes sick kids, vacation, and life in general throws me off my routines!) —the spinning thoughts linger, I’m more quick to react, and I get overwhelmed more easily. These are the reasons that keep me showing up to my journaling practice!
I will say, now that my son is older and his bedtime is inching closer and closer towards mine (help!), cutting into my downtime, it is getting harder to keep up with my bedtime journaling. I’m so tired at the end of the day and it’s a lot easier/mindless to sit on the couch and scroll than it is to get into bed and journal. But similar to how I never regret a workout, I never regret a journaling session and it’s this mindset that keeps me committed. I may need to adopt a new routine at some point but that’s the beauty of journaling — it works with your schedule.
I want to emphasize the five minutes because I think that’s important, especially for us moms. When I reference my journaling practice, I’m talking about a five(ish) minute journaling session writing down my thoughts, gratitudes and excitements. I’m not talking about a deep dive or morning pages (3+ pages of brain dumping).
There’s a time and place for that type of journaling but that’s not my everyday practice. Sometimes I answer a prompt as it relates to these themes, but often times I’m just free flow writing. That’s why I think it’s easier to stick with —my practice is predictable and quick! What started as a way for me to brain dump my running thoughts, has turned into one of my most powerful (yet simple!) tools for self-discovery, self-love, and manifestation. It’s also helped me find my purpose.
As someone who always wanted to be an entrepreneur and have my own business, I’ve finally found my path and now I want to share this amazing tool with any mom who wants to learn about it through my journaling company and community, Bliss’d. The beautiful thing about journaling is that it’s adaptable; you can do it whenever and wherever you find — or need! — a moment of peace.
