When I was ten years old, my father gave me a little bright-green diary and asked me start writing inside it. When I asked him what I should be writing about, he told me it could be whatever I wanted. And so it began, my tryst with journalling.

The stories on those pages were my fights with Roshan, the thrill of getting a new frock or how I loved the latest episode of ‘Cardcaptor Sakura’.

Over the years that followed, I started telling these books the tales of my teenage woes – how I hated the way I looked or how badly I wanted to get out of the village countryside.
When I felt confused about what I really felt about someone, I used journalling to make sense of what I couldn’t by myself.
To me, these diaries were close confidantes with whom I could share my vulnerabilities and my darkest fears – the real me.

What I mean to say is that the habit of writing (or typing) down the words that you cannot bring yourselves to speak is an immensely freeing act; a safe place to bare your soul.

There are numerous studies which now prove that journalling helps promote mental well being, so much so that it is even an efficacious intervention for improving mental health outcomes in anxiety disorders.

There is no reason to not give this humble tool a try.
Try making a gratitude journal to remember those pink petunias that made you smile today.
Or a dream journal wherein you wish and hope and pray and plan!
Lend it the kind voice you wish to hear when you are in emotional shambles.
It shall be a compass always pointing you towards a better and happier self.

Happy Journalling!