7 Journaling suggestions for moms
Sarah Kutahi
Journaling is a great way of recording one’s thoughts, feelings and ideas thus allowing you an opportunity to look at them from a different perspective. Journaling has proven useful in mental health matters because it allows one to separate themselves from their mental space with a chance to look at things objectively and to offload heavy emotions that one may be struggling with.
As a mother, raising a family comes with a lot of struggles and sometimes you may need to pour out your heart and lack a listening ear. The following are some of the entries you could make in your journal.
Write about your mental health struggles
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Listen! You are a mother raising children who have no idea that you also struggle. It might get tough juggling your own life as well as that of your offspring. Make a point of journaling about it.
Journal about the mornings you woke up feeling hopeful or the ones when you had despaired. Journal about your parenting style and how it makes you feel about your childhood. Get it all out! Just remember to write it as raw as you feel it.
Write affirmations for each child
Journals give us grounds to practice what we want to live. Sometimes it may take you writing down precious things about a child to actually find the courage to speak them out loud or even mould your child according.
Also, there comes a time in parenting when you may feel a rift forming between you and your child especially if something traumatic might have happened.
The best thing to do is to remind yourself of the love you felt when you first held your child at birth. Remind yourself with your journal. Write about your child as much as you can until your whole being accepts these facts about them.
ALSO READ: 5 subtle signs that your teenager might be depressed
Track the changes you are observing in your marriage
If you are a mother and a wife, journaling offers a good way to keep track of the changes in your marriage life.
Tell your journal stories that live rent-free in your mind. Step back them reread them back to yourself so you could understand how sometimes your mind could be influencing your marriage.
Journal about precious memories
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Once you become a parent the chances of you thinking of yourself lessen. Therefore, when you manage to do even the smallest thing that you feel great about it, make the feeling last longer by making an entry in your journal.
Write the details of how it occurred and exactly how you felt in the moment. Give yourself targets to make yourself feel that good too and commit to them. Making such entries will serve as a good reminder during times when you can no longer do things you enjoyed.
Journal about changing friendships
Your friendships might change after you become a mother and this may be hard. Make notes in your journal of the role that a particular friendship played in your life and why it had to go.
It is also important to write about what your new expectations of friendships look like now that you are a mother. This process will help you move on much more easily compared to harbouring feelings inside you.
Journal about your healthy habits
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Journals can be used to monitor your healthy habits including the relief it brings you after a stressful moment. Journal about your eating habits, sleeping patterns, social life and even wellness routines. This ensures that you remain in tip-top shape since you can easily trace what is not working for you.
Bonus tip…
You can pair journaling with collecting items that are related to your entries. Such items can trigger a certain feeling that you recorded in your journal and could be useful in allowing you to relive a memory that mattered to you. Mementoes could be pictures of your children, clothing or toys.
