I was recently quoted in the introduction to a piece in Women’s Health US online that shared 15 journal apps to try.

How journaling can be helpful

Tracker style journals are useful to record and review progress over time. With busy lives, it can be hard to remember what we were doing, thinking or feeling yesterday, let alone last week! This style of journal apps allow us to build up a more accurate picture over-time, which we can then look back on.

Journaling can help to build self-awareness and understanding when we write down and explore our experiences, thoughts and feelings. Many people report that simply transferring their thoughts from swirling around in their head to written form (on paper or an app) can provide an emotional release and help them to see a situation more clearly; when we journal we are separating ourselves from the thought and processing it in a different way.

Gratitude journaling is thought to benefit wellbeing because it creates positive feelings and is training our mind to focus on what is good instead of looking out for what is going wrong!

Creating a daily journaling practice can help you to prioritise making time to yourself and checking in with how you’re feeling, which can help you to manage difficult emotions or events before they become too much to handle. 

 Benefits of journaling apps

Journaling apps could be helpful for those of us who travel frequently or are a bit disorganized as we often have our phone to hand but might misplace a paper journal.

Journaling apps tend to be structured and provide guidance or prompts, which can be helpful for people who are trying journaling for the first time and find the prospect of staring at a blank journal page unappealing and intimidating.  

Tips to help you start journaling

Find the style and frequency of journaling that works best for you. Some people like to develop a daily practice while other people like to journal as and when they feel they need to.

You don’t need to commit to and remember to journal every single day to experience the benefits, so drop the perfectionism and give it a go.