Introduction

Journaling generally revolves around the practice of putting your thoughts, feelings and keeping track of the routine. Keeping a journal is considered a vital part of your eating disorder treatment. It provides a way to stress management and self-exploration and works best when done consistently. It could help you also the day you decide to face a specialist. Just putting your thoughts down can help you understand the impact of the things in your life like eating habits and meeting personal goals.
Journaling can help you in general wellness and achieving self-improvement. It boosts creativity and helps you in building better habits. Even occasional journaling is proven stress-relieving. Journaling can:

• • Boost your mood/affect
• • Enhance your sense of well-being
• • Reduce symptoms of depression
• • Reduce intrusion and avoidance symptoms post-trauma
• • Improve your working memory

Different Ways to Journal

You can choose any mode of journaling depending on your preferences. If you like writing with a pen, you can keep a notebook for your journaling. If you prefer a digital way for your journal, you can write a blog to share or keep to yourself. There are all kinds of apps for journaling; you can download any one of them on your phone. The important thing is that you use the method you are comfortable with, which encourages you to keep going, whether that means keeping track digitally or in your notebook (there are hybrid solutions to do both). For ultimate privacy, keep your manual journal someplace safe, and a lock works well for a digital journal.
The hardest part of journaling is getting started. Just do it. If you are on your recovery journey from an eating disorder, try not to get into details of writing about calorie count and your meals unless your therapist advises otherwise. The fun about journaling is that there are no rules. You can choose to journal in any way that works best for you. Some of the examples for that are:

• • Doodle
• • Write a poem
• • Write a story
• • Write to someone like your younger self or your eating disorder self. Sometimes writing a letter to yourself puts things into perspective and creates motivation.
• •  Put your thoughts into single words: happy, uneasy, preoccupied

Once you get started, the real questions that arise are, what topics to cover? Your therapist or counselor might have given you some ideas you regarding what to write in your journal. Some ideas for journaling for those with an eating disorder might include:

• •  Saying goodbye to your eating disorder: Write something about your disorder, like a letter to it. It will help you to commit to your recovery mentally. In the letter, you have to include all the reasons you want to heal and create a plan to support yourself. It can be helpful for the people who personify their eating disorder, thinking of it as an entity separate from who they are.
• •  Post a list of pros and cons: Write a list of pros and cons for your eating disorder. Focus on cons, of course. It will help you understand why getting treatment for your eating disorder is important. Also, discuss what eating disorder has taken from your life.

• •  Dispel negativity: You can dispel negativity by correcting your thoughts about food, self-worth, and weight. Individuals with eating disorders tend to misrepresent their views on these topics. Writing truths like weight doesn’t determine your self-worth can put you on the right path of your recovery journey.

• •  Journal about relapses: Write your thoughts down whenever you relapse. It can help you acknowledge them, which helps you in moving on. It ultimately supports healing. Give yourself appreciation for how well you handled the relapse. Journaling all this will show you how you handled the problem. It will give you encouragement that you got this and reinforce your belief in your healthy self

• •  Journal for better sleep:  If you struggle with sleeping due to an eating disorder, write down the concerns that keep you awake. If you know you’ll have difficulty sleeping, plan and write down all the things that concern you. Write positive and motivating statements like I have tomorrow I can actively work on my problems. Let yourself know that you got this. It will help you to get better sleep.

• •  Journaling overwhelming emotions: If you feel overwhelmed with emotions like anger, fear, shame, or anxiety, spare some time to acknowledge those feelings in your journal. Ask yourself what things are causing those emotions, what you can do to make yourself feel better. Recognizing and journaling about overwhelming emotions can help you a lot.

Benefits of Journaling for eating disorder recovery

How does journaling can help you with your eating disorder? If you write gratitude thoughts in your journal, it can help you in your journey of recovery. Benefits of gratitude journaling include:

• • Journaling will help you boost your long-term well-being
• • It is considered to have a positive impact on your mental health
• • Increases your optimism and reinforces positivity attitude
• • Helps in reducing physical pain and symptoms
• • Increases quality of sleep
• • Reducing your symptoms of depression
• • Helping you make progress toward your goals

Tips for Managing your Journal

One of the essential parts of maintaining a journal is consistency. You need to take steps to stay consistent. For instance:

• • Create a set time for journaling
• • Choose a comfortable place to write
• • Date all entries. Chances are you will refer to these posts at some point, so date them as a reference
• • Don’t try to be perfect while journaling. Just write down your thoughts without overthinking your sentence structure. Just putting a smiley on the days when you don’t feel like writing anything will also do. Just be consistent
• • Before you start to journal, sit and close your eyes to organize your thoughts.

Remind that this is the moment you can truly be yourself with no judgment by anyone. Keep in mind that journaling is part of recovery and rediscovery in your eating disorder therapy.

It helps you stay motivated and keep you going daily.