I finally gave in and tried those 5-minute journal prompts my friend kept pushing

I was super skeptical about journaling for months. My friend Sarah swore it helped her focus but I figured it was just another self-help gimmick. Then last week I had three days of pure chaos at work and decided to try it out of desperation. I wrote down three things I was grateful for and one thing that would make the day good. Honestly, by day two I noticed I was less annoyed about small stuff like traffic. The skeptic side of me says it's just placebo but the other side says hey if it works who cares. Has anyone else been surprised by something they thought was nonsense but turned out to help?

3 comments

3 Comments

lopez.jana10d ago

Oh man, I totally get that skeptical feeling. It's wild when something you wrote off actually helps out.

cole99410d ago

Yeah, totally what you said about writing something off. I mean, it's so easy to get stuck in that mindset and just assume something's not gonna work without really giving it a shot. It usually takes me messing up a few times before I realize I was being too stubborn about it. Idk, maybe it's just part of being human, but I've definitely been guilty of it with a bunch of different things. Once I actually tried something I was skeptical about it was usually way better than I thought it would be.

the_jordan7d ago

Wait, so you're telling me I've been rage-screaming at traffic for years when all I needed was a notebook and a pen? That's both humbling and annoying at the same time... I tried the whole gratitude thing after a friend kept bugging me about it and ended up writing "I'm grateful my coffee didn't burn my tongue this morning" which is pretty sad when you think about it. But weirdly enough by day three I was actually looking forward to writing down dumb little wins like finding a parking spot on the first try. Placebo or not, if it stops me from flipping off the guy who cuts me off, I'll take it.