Unfiltered: Journaling as a radical reclamation of self
by Ali Joy Richardson (MA, RCT-C)
Originally commissioned by ML Family Counselling
4 min read
First things first – if journaling isn’t your thing, rock on. I’m not here to recruit you. Truly.
I believe in journaling.
I have kept diaries since I was a preteen. Journaling has been comforting, transformative, clarifying, motivating, reassuring, and (sometimes uncomfortably) eye-opening for me. Joan Didion once said, “I don’t know what I think until I write it down.” Amen.
My perspective on journaling comes from my work as both a published writer and as a counselling therapist. If I could shout one thing from the rooftops about journaling, it’s this: the only way to do journaling wrong is to not journal at all. Journaling is one of those rare things in life where the moment you try it, you’re doing it right. I promise.
As a therapist and writing coach, I’ve learned that boundless freedom can be stifling at first. I’m going to offer some guidelines for new journalers, because (ah, paradox) structure can be liberating.
Pick your place. Where are you going to do your writing? A notebook? A password protected document? A note on your phone? A journaling app? I suggest choosing one and sticking to it. This makes it easier to read back over past writing.
Set a timer. Especially if you’re new to journaling. I recommend 10 minutes. It’s short enough to fit in a busy day, but long enough for you to dig past the first layer.
Use music. I recommend making a short playlist of songs that crack your heart open. Not sure what that music is for you? Think back to whatever you listened to alone in high school.
Write without stopping. This may feel weird at first, but trust it. Just keep the words flowing. You don’t have to rush; you just can’t stop. Write anything (including and especially, “I don’t know what to write”). Repeat yourself. Trail off. Circle back. Blow up. Let it become a poem. An un-sendable letter. A rant. Erotica. Nonsense. Lists. Slander. Prayer.
No editing allowed. This, I insist upon. Do not go back and change things during your 10 minutes. Do not delete or fix anything. This isn’t an assignment. This isn’t for anyone but you. Don’t spend a precious moment of your finite time and energy editing yourself.
Other offerings:
Try lighting a candle. You can’t walk away from an open flame. It’ll keep you in place and writing. Lighting it and blowing it out offers tactile, sensory bookends to your writing ritual. We are creatures of habit. As Casper ter Kuile’s wrote in The Power of Ritual, ritual works when we (1) set an intention, (2) bring our attention to the present moment, and (3) make space for repetition. After years of lighting a candle before writing, the smell of a smoking match now ignites my imagination.
Read it back (when you’re ready). Reading your own writing can be incredibly clarifying. It can also be uncomfortable. Trust your gut with this one. If it feels too hot to touch, let it cool for a bit.
Again, these are just guidelines to get you started. Take ‘em or leave ‘em.
Journaling is lawless. I hope these guidelines can be a bridge into that glorious chaos.
In a 2022 meta-analysis of the mental health benefits of journaling, journaling was shown to be particularly effective for managing anxiety and PTSD. Jen Cross explored these benefits in her stunning manual/memoir, Writing Ourselves Whole. In it, Cross presented journaling as a radical, defiant act in direct opposition to oppression and abuse:
“We were trained by abusers to keep our mouths shut or people we love will get hurt. We were trained by our teachers to make an outline, not to write a word until we know exactly what we want to say. We were trained to hold ourselves together, not to reveal the places in us that are cracked or uncertain, stippled with fissures of vulnerability.”
Heavy topics aren’t the only ones fit for journaling. As Cross also wrote:
“I used to believe that I should come away from every writing session wrung out and exhausted…If I didn’t cry while I was writing, I didn’t think I was doing it right.”
Journaling is for all parts of the human experience, from the monstrous, to the mundane, to the sublime.
I believe in journaling because it is a place where we can be completely unfiltered. Unfiltering ourselves is hard to do. Try it, and you’ll see. Start writing, and you’ll likely discovery how quickly your mind becomes noisy with the voices of other people.
It takes practice to tune it all out.
It takes practice to tune into you instead.
And the nice thing about journaling is…practice doesn’t make perfect. There is no perfect here. Journaling is more hardcore than that. It’s anarchic. It’s a reclamation. It’s punk rock. It’s wild.
It’s yours.
Further Resources
Cross, J. (2017). Writing ourselves whole: Using the power of your own creativity to recover and heal from sexual trauma. Mango.
Santos, L. (Host). (2022, September 6). Harvard's Casper ter Kuile on happiness and ritual [Audio podcast episode]. In The Happiness Lab. Pushkin. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/bonus-harvards-casper-ter-kuile-on-happiness-and-ritual/id1474245040?i=1000533386388
ter Kuile, C. (2020). The power of ritual: Turning everyday activities into soulful practices. HarperOne.
Sohal, M., Singh, P., Dhillon, B. S., & Gill, H. S. (2022). Efficacy of journaling in the management of mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Family medicine and community health, 10(1), e001154. https://doi.org/10.1136/fmch-2021-001154