Mental health is a serious topic today. When people think about writing their feelings down in a notebook, they think of a diary, but journaling is much different. Traditionally, “dear diary” would be start of a diary—like the writer is talking to someone else—but with journaling the writer is addressing themselves, talking with their own conscious.

According to University of Rochester Medical Center, journaling has many health benefits. Some of those include managing anxiety, reducing stress, and coping with depression. Traditionally, a writing journal is what a lot of people do but there are so many other types to be done. Some different types of journaling are dream journals, travel journals, prayer journals, and the one I want to talk about today, art journals.

I choose to do art journaling because I enjoy writing, but drawing out pictures and expressing my feelings that way is more beneficial to me. “Art journals generally combine visual journaling and writing, to create finished pages. Every imaginable style, media and technique is used by art journalists. When it comes to the types of work represented in artist journals, there really aren’t any rules, and each book is as unique as the artist who created it” explained Lisa Vollrath.  At first, when I heard about art journaling, I thought I could never do it because I am not the most artistically advanced person, but I found myself to really enjoy it.

Although I haven’t been journaling for very long, I have found myself really benefiting from art journaling and I really suggest some kind of journaling for you too.

Gallery • 7 Photos

This page represents all of the thoughts jumbling around in my brain but I can achieve balance if I try.