How My First Journaling Experience Went And The Positive Impact it Gave ME!
Well! You’re not alone. Maybee you ask yourself “Could I have done something differently? or “Why did this happen to me?. Maybe you ask yourself if “you are ever getting over this traumatic event?” or even if “you are to blame for what happened?”. I also ask those very same questions.
But I am here to tell you that you might be able to do something about that and why it works.
Dr. James Pennebaker came up with a brilliant solution to understand your past traumas and lower your negative emotions and increase your positive emotions. Giving you confidence and reducing your blood pressure. Living longer as a result of it.
I was astonished with the results it gave me and what came out of it when I did the exercise.
My First Trauma Journaling Experience
How did I do this exercise myself taking care of a long lasting trauma of mine?
I sat down to write with the framework of writing between 15–30 minutes at four separate occasions about a past trauma. I will not get into what the trauma was about. All I can say it has lopped over and over in my head for the past 45 years.
I have learned so much about the current facts through research on emotions and personality and the horrific impact it has on peoples daily lives. To not do anything about my own negative emotions that was dwelling deep inside me.
I knew I had to do everything in my nature to stop it.
Planning for Journaling
Let me explain how my journaling progressed.
The therapy helped a bit but not like this. So for me to finally journal about it was huge for me. I started the excersise with procrastination for two weeks.
Then I just told myself to turn of my phone and shut off my computer.
I went to the clean kitchen table with white A4 printer paper and a pen.
I started by writing “Day 1” at the top left corner. Opened up the countdown timer on my phone and set it to 30 minutes. I thought I had a lot to say about the trauma.
Boy was I in for a surprise.
Here is what happened.
I started writing as my life depended on it. I got cramps in my right hand writing after 5 minutes. I kept going and did not watch or correct my gramma. I just let the pen do its thing as it came out of me without any control.
I ended up writing for 21 minutes and simply had nothing else to say.
This is the point where I confess that I do not think of myself as a good or even average writer.
So that also felt like a huge hurdle. But I put that aside since you are not supposed to show anyone or tell anyone about what you have written. It is for you and you alone.
So I did not care about how bad it was written since it was “For My Eyes Only”.
1st day
During the first day of writing I felt sad.
I cried a bit over what I wrote. It was sad to me to digg it all up again and putting it on paper. But after it felt like a weight was taken off my chest.
So after the first day my life was already better.
After the 4 days
All days took more or less about 21 minutes each and I never read any of it until a week after.
9 days after I sat down and started counting the number of words written on each day. Then I circled the negative words and squared the positive words. Counted all circled words and al squared words.
It was an educational exercise do this and I could see the feedback lopp in the process.
So what are the results?
- Word count decreased by -31.5%
- Negative words decreased by a whopping 47%
- Positive words increase by 200%
In total it took me 1 hour 20 minutes to write an additional 20 minutes after a week to analyse and see the impact.
Well there you have it.
I feel great about the journaling and I can highly recommend it to anyone since it is private and your developing journey. You will also leave past traumas behind you with a better understanding of you and the trauma.
Speaking from my own personal experience.