Wow! My very first blog post! I can hardly believe it. This has been a dream of mine for many years, always with a shifting creative idea for content. Yet when the dream of blogging started to become a reality, I took a 4 month hiatus because it scared me so much!

I decided that for my first blog post I would do something somewhat safe. This is something that I am familiar with, that I practice often myself, and that I find myself encouraging almost every single person I work with to practice as well; journaling!

There are several things I love about journaling: externalizing the thought, helping pull out a course of action, connecting your emotional brain with your rational brain, to name a few.

1. I am all about externalizing things. When something lives inside of us (such as a thought, a worry, an argument), it tends to seem super big and unmanageable. We have difficulties following thoughts or controlling them from becoming anxiety. When we externalize things, either by writing them out, talking to a good friend, or working with a therapist, often they don't seem as overwhelming. I hear it at least once a week in sessions; "Wow, now that I say it out loud it doesn't seem as big of a deal!"

2. I love making lists. I love writing down what I need to accomplish during my weekday, on a busy weekend, literally anytime I can make a list. Writing things down helps us visualize a plan and shift priorities to make more sense. This is much easier to do when we can physically see them.

3. I LOVE talking about our emotional brain and our rational brain. It is one of my favorite things to nerd out about, likely because my emotional brain seems to be a lot stronger than my rational brain so I get a lot of work at trying to tune into my rational brain! Worry and anxiety live in our emotional brain, and our emotional brain can very easily get away from us. Have you ever had a situation that you were so worked up about, only to find a few hours later that it was not that big of a deal? When our emotions are heightened, we struggle to think rationally about it. There are many ways to connect our rational brain. When we journal, we are physically asking our rational brain to enter into the process.

Other things I love about journaling is that I have learned a lot about myself, I have tuned into my internal emotions more intentionally, and I found that it is really relaxing.

I posted something recently on Facebook about journal prompts, and I was overwhelmed with friends reaching out asking for prompts to get them started. I thought I would end this post with some journal prompts. Depending on your situation, I would be happy to send you more intentional prompts to get you started. Feel free to send me a message!

I want to encourage you to not put any expectations on this. If you don't feel like journaling, don't force it. Sometimes I'll look at a prompt, think about it for a day or two, and then start writing. Other days it feels really natural. The more you journal, the easier it gets.

Happy journaling!

-When I wake up in the morning, how do I most want to feel and how can I get there?

-What beliefs are holding me back from living my dream life?

-What brings me genuine joy?

-What do I most need to heal right now?

-What do I need to forgive myself for?

-What makes me feel powerful and lit up?

-What is the best thing that happened this week? Describe it in detail.

-Write down one regret.

-How would you like people to describe you?

-What is something weird about you?

Special thanks to my husband for putting up with me as I got this blog started. He's the real MVP!