The Folly of Journaling

Many people who start journaling do so because of the benefits it's supposed to promote. Greater self-awareness and insight into your life and help solve difficulties you may be encountering.

Not so fast fellow journaler, Tasha Eurich an organizational psychologist, and author of "Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See Us, How We See Ourselves, and Why the Answers Matter More Than We.." which has stacked up an impressive 4.5 stars and 625 reviews, has something to say on this topic.

Tasha states the way most people journal does not improve the insight of their life or gain greater self-awareness. Her studies compared people who journal on a regular basis to people who don't journal at all. The people who journal daily are no more insightful than people who don't journal.

Most people use their journal as a sounding board or a gripe board, where they excrete all the crap in their heads into the journal. While this may temporarily feel good to get it all out on paper, it doesn't help resolve the issue.

But, there are ways to improve your benefits from journaling

Don't Ask Why

In journaling, many people write down and are expressing all the things that have gone wrong. It may start to look like a list of why questions. Like why is this happening to me? Why didn't I get that promotion, raise, lose weight, girlfriend, etc. These "why" questions is putting you into victim mode. Instead of asking why, ask what.

What can I do to get that promotion?

What can I do to lose weight?

What can I do to get a raise?

What can I do to become a better partner?

Now your questions are empowering, your answers, are forward-moving, and seeking a solution to the issue, rather than lamenting your life.

Another way of reframing the why question, is to change the "why is this happening to me" to "why is this happening for me".

Bitter or Better?

This is one example from my life. Recently I went for an eye test. My glasses weren't working as well as they once had. I felt I may need a new prescription. After my eye exam, the optometrist told me I had a small bleed in one eye and a substantial protein leak in the other eye. He took a few pictures of my eye and set up an appointment with an ophthalmologist who was an expert with retinal issues.

Remember I went in thinking I just needed new reading glasses.

My next appointment with the ophthalmologist followed the same style eye exam, with the exception of being injected with a dye for a second battery of eye photographs. The photographs confirmed what I had been told before. The bleed was tiny, not to worry. The protein leak was on the side of my eye, not centered on the retina where it would blur my vision.

What was the cause I asked?

The doctor's best guess is diabetes. I have high blood sugar but I am not classified as diabetic. However, diabetes runs in my family, so it seems plausibly my body is more susceptible to the damages of high blood sugar than the average person.

This news can lead one to be bitter or better.

I Choose Better

My doctor's advice was that the best way to deal with my eye damage was to lower my blood glucose levels. So that's what I decided to do. I am using a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to help me lower my blood glucose levels. I am closely monitoring the food that I eat, and the impact the food has on my blood glucose, via the CGM. I have cut out highly processed carbohydrates and sugars from my diet. I have begun a basic exercise schedule. I have a goal to lose 10 pounds of fat in the next three months.

This is how I used this setback to make myself better, not bitter.

You can do the same.