10 Steps to Begin or Reignite your Sobriety Journaling

Anyway, today we're talking about journaling in sobriety, which I'm a huge fan of. So how many times Have you, uh, have you been advised to keep a journal? I know in rehab, or if it's IOP or whatever it is, um, therapy, coaching, you know, I know with my clients I'm constantly advising that they keep a journal. But it— how many times have you been told to supplement your sobriety with it? And how many times have you started journaling practice and stopped in less than a week or so. Um, let me tell you, without journaling, we repeat patterns very easily. Without journaling, our accomplishments lose their leverage. And without journaling, gratitude is a lot more difficult. Without a journal, momentum in your sobriety You know, before active addiction for me, I was plagued with clinical depression, you know, because as you know, if you're an addict or if you've heard my story, there was all these milestones, all this, these, there's a bridge of incidents that occurred before I became an addict. But before all of that, I was clinically depressed, and at its climax, I checked checked myself into a mental facility for suicidal ideations. That full story is on my Medium page if you want to read about it. I'll put the link in the comments here. But my mental illness was a result of bottling up my inner turmoil. And for me, in my case, that turmoil came from, you know, being— having all these homosexual tendencies and, you know, thinking I was going to hell. And it was just this cycle on and on and on all my life, and finally it became too much. But later, you know, I embraced daily journaling as a means of, you know, a means of dealing with depression. But also it was part of my plan to get out of the mental facility was that I was going to start journaling. But daily journaling enabled me to become aware of of thought patterns that signaled oncoming bouts of depression. So journaling equipped me with valuable knowledge that improved my mental illness, improved my mental health. I brought this practice forward to addiction recovery. Journaling has enabled my sobriety, enhanced my sobriety in profound ways. Um, identification of triggers, um, creating a gratitude anchor every day, leveraging, uh, my gratitude and leveraging my wins, and ultimately eliminating relapse. So here's how, uh, to get started and stay consistent. My 10 easy-to-do ways to either start a journaling practice or reignite the one you have. Number 1, Is relieve the pressure. Drop expectations around the grandiosity of your journal. This should be a space, total non-judgment release, and as juvenile as it sounds, for your eyes only. Allow your journal to be whatever it is, period. A lot of my clients have this expectation that it has to be this novel or it has to be this Has to be like that. Or maybe they've seen or heard of other people's journals. I don't know where they get it in their head, but this is your space. This is your escape. This is only for you. Um, so drop the pressure that you have on yourself. Give yourself some grace around it. Number 2 is create an objective. So while we are letting it be what it is without creating any pressure, think about how you want to— your Your journal to inform your sobriety? Do you want more clarity? Do you want relapse prevention momentum? You want increased gratitude? What do you hope to achieve from this journal? Because a why will ignite your motivation for writing consistently. It gives you a purpose, right? You're not just writing in a diary every day of what you're doing. Actually have something to work toward. So number 3 is habit stack. This is the most effective way to create a daily habit, is in my case stack it with something that you're doing already. So for me, I've talked about I, I, um, narrowed my coffee down to having 1 cup a day. So after I have that first cup of coffee, I immediately journal. I make it part of the habit. I've stacked it together, pairing those 2 has instilled it into my daily routine. So, you know, how about doing it after you brush your teeth or after you take your contacts out or something that you're doing every day? Stack journaling with it. This— there's more information about this. I got this from Atomic Habits, and I'll put the link to that book in the comments too. To me, has opened up my eyes to productivity habits and what it really means to introduce something into your life that says something about you. So if you're saying to yourself, I am somebody who journals, I am somebody who cares about my mental health, then journaling becomes that. It doesn't become just a task on your list. So number 4 is use pen and paper. Studies show time and again— I'll put a link to one in the, in the comments— that writing with a pen and paper improve your brain activity and, and retention. So make a special trip to choose your special journaling pen and your special journaling notebook. It's specifically for journaling. The ceremony of that will amplify and solidify this new habit. So number 5 is the setting. Uh, choosing your journaling spot will help you create ritual for your journaling. Train your brain to The signal. When I'm sitting here, I'm journaling, or when I'm standing here, I'm journaling, whatever. You'll be amazed by how easily words begin to flow when you set up an external cue for your nervous system. So there's a spot for me in the summer, um, on the patio, and when I'm sitting there, I'm journaling in the morning. Or, and when it's colder, in the— on— there's a space on the couch. My system knows that when I'm sitting there, and of course I don't have my phone With me, that's where I'm going to begin to journal the thoughts. I mean, I immediately get into a journal mode even before I'm writing. So number 6 is prophetic vision. So if you don't know where to start your first entry, for me it's helpful— will be a prophetic vision of yourself 6 months into the future. So a helpful journal prompt for this is pretend you are on the phone with your future self. And now describe in, in In minute detail how your life has evolved in, in 6 months. And now dream, dream big, act like you're there. And when you, when you work from there and back, you begin to have something to work toward and you know where you're going. It gives you a North Star for your journaling practice. And it also gives your, your nervous system, your brain, and the universe an idea of who you want to be. Number seven is start a stream of consciousness. So the best place to begin for anybody that I that if you're just beginning a journaling practice is to set a timer, put a pen to paper, start writing everything that comes to mind. Don't lift the pen until this timer sounds. Even if you have to start with I don't know what to write. If necessary, do that. You are brain training again. Your brain training thought movement. So when you're sitting down and you start a stream of consciousness, it's just, it's kind of like priming and lubricating the brain to get into the mode and the habit of it and the practice of it. Number 8 is tracking. So journaling provides tracking of patterns. Like I said, with my clinical depression, I was able to stop it in its tracks because I was able to pinpoint patterns. And when I saw my thoughts, Returning to that same pattern, I was able to put the brakes on. So I identified in my sobriety journaling 2 months that were my most heightened triggers. I had relapsed in February of one year and then in November of one year. And I noticed that simply tracking those months, I noticed that in my writing, That those were heightened, that the triggers were hard, they were rough. They were months that I had downloaded apps that I wouldn't normally do. And what I also found out later is that through my journaling, through reflective journaling, is that the first time I used was in February, first time I smoked, and then the first time I injected was in November. So the body knows. The body knows. And it's a cycle, and it just wants you to repeat these cycles so badly. It's going to, like a big magnet, pull you back, especially in those times of the year that coincides with something that is important to you or was a big deal to you. First time I used was a big deal, especially when I first injected. So you can track by colors too. So like, you know, if you're, if you're journaling at the end of the night, Or if you're journaling in the morning of the next day, you're going to give each day, like a previous day, a color. You could do that, or a number, or you could be a range of smileys to frownies, you know, or whatever. But, you know, you could say, like, if you're doing colors, today is green because I'm upbeat and I'm not triggered today. So you're going to create charts from that. So number 9 is make entries actionable. So breathe life into your journal entries. You're going to summarize them into a daily mantra. So sometimes it's not just enough just to write down everything, right? And maybe it's a really great and profound for you anyway journal entry. But read over the writing and structure a mantra that summarizes what you wrote. So you an example would be I am blank, and today I'll prove it by blank. Right. That could be your mantra. So keep this in front of you throughout the day. An example would be, let's say that you were feeling in, in your entry, you were feeling pretty weak and you were feeling triggered by a friend. So a mantra could be, I am strong, and today I'll prove it by clearing away from my friend or blocking my friend from the day or choosing to go somewhere else where the friend isn't. So when you do this, you're, you're putting your— like I said, you're breathing life into what you wrote. You're making it actionable and you're actually using it. And so you're going to keep that mantra in front of you throughout the entire day. So number 10 is a 30-day review. So you're going to ignite effectiveness into your journal by reviewing it every 30 days. You're going to anchor into Your wins by doing this. So chart your daily tracking. You're going to pinpoint the lows and the highs through this. So if you have 30 days of colors or numbers, look at put them on a chart and look at them, you know, and and say, oh, the second week of every month, it looks like you know the second week of this month, I was I was in a low period. What was going on? Who was I around? What could have been you know possibly affecting that? And then you're going to recalibrate. So the next month on the second week, you're going to really pay attention to what triggers there might be around and recalibrate. You're going to recalibrate your vision. I should edit this, but I'm probably not going to. So what does creating and maintaining a journaling habit— it's going to amplify your sobriety journey. It's going to eliminate feelings of stagnancy because you, you can see in black and white your wins, your progress, and what you need to work on. You're going to increase your well-being— this is all scientifically proven, by the way— and provide a vision for your future. So there you go. I really hope that you will start journaling. If you can't afford a journal, you can't afford a pen, please DM me, let me know. Let's get you something. Let's get you something in front of you. If you need some help journaling, if you want an accountability partner, if you— what I do with my clients is give them journal prompts every day. So if you want more information on journaling or how it can improve your sobriety, if you want to work with me to start and institute a journal, then DM me, make a comment below. And if you like this video, please subscribe, please like, please click on the little bell, all the things that you're supposed to do to improve, improve the algorithm. I would appreciate that. So that being said, have a great day. Love you.