Poet Sylvia Plath once wrote, “Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it.” Unexpected phrasing aside, this is great advice. All of us have a tornado of thoughts, feelings, worries, hopes, fears and loves in our brains at any given time: some studies have estimated that humans have 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day! One of the best ways to try to tame the storm is to write about it. Even the smallest things are worth the time it takes to jot them down.

The best thing about journaling? It takes only two simple steps:

You literally can’t do it wrong. You can use your phone (an email to yourself, a notes app, a text file, a voice recording) or paper (a notebook, a diary, a bunch of sticky notes). A journal is a private no-judgment zone, so it doesn’t matter how it sounds or looks. Using a journal to get your insides outside declutters your mind, reducing overwhelm and helps unbottle emotions. It also allows you to process and untangle, resulting in less stress and anxiety.

Journaling can also help you spot patterns in your experiences and reactions. By recording them regularly, you might start to notice what triggers your stress, what makes you feel happy, or what negative thought cycles you get stuck in. This understanding is the first step toward developing healthier coping mechanisms.

Finally, a journal can help you label and understand your emotions, rather than being swept away by them. You can revisit high emotions later through rereading your journal entries, perhaps writing more in a calmer moment to explore those feelings and brainstorm solutions to the problems that caused them.

Note from Noah – When I was having a tough time last year, my therapist suggested that I start a journal. At first, I was not into it — it felt dumb to write to no one, and I was already feeling overwhelmed, so one more thing was like AAAAAAH! But she insisted, and I tried it, and … it helped.