August 15th is National Relaxation Day! We all travel at a million miles per hour through life, working hard and pushing towards our goals. But we have to take moments to truly relax, reflect on our lives and take a deep breath. This is what National Relaxation Day is all about.
Why Should We Relax? Here is a list of a few benefits of taking the time to relax…
- Improves happiness
- Reduces heart rate and breathing rate
- Improves digestion
- Reduces muscle tension and pain
- Reduces activity of stress hormones
How Does Journaling Help To Relax Us?
National Relaxation Day gives us an opportunity to focus on ourselves, and just sit back and relax! 😊 There are lots of different ways that you can relax, but our favourite is definitely journaling. Relaxing can sometimes be difficult if we have 100 different things circling around in our heads. By offloading them and getting them down on paper, you can create more space in your brain for other things.
Journaling is also a great tool for stress management. Studies have shown that writing to yourself in a private journal, helps to process stressful situations and events. Sometimes the only way to truly let go of certain thoughts and feelings, is to write them down, and try to understand them. Journaling for improved stress management leads to a reduction in burnout and increases coping.
Journaling doesn’t always have to have the goal of improving your mental health or getting stressful thoughts down. Journaling can also provide a platform to understand who you are, and what you want in life. Writing regularly can improve the quality of your life, and help you to feel closer to yourself, even when the world is going a hundred miles per hour.
There is a stigma that journaling is only for people that need to improve their mental health, but this is not the case at all! There is also a view that journaling is something that only women and girls do – whereas this could not be further from the truth! Journaling is for everyone and is a great way to relax and spend time by yourself. It can be difficult sometimes to write down our thoughts, it often feels easier to keep them to ourselves. However, with all the benefits that come with it, is it not worth a try? It isn’t going to be for everyone, and may not be everyone’s go to activity, but you can adapt journaling to you. Depending on what you want to get out of it, and whether you want to explore your mind or just write, there are techniques that can help. Journal prompts can help you get started, and make you think about things that otherwise you may not have written about. Free writing is another way to journal, where you let your mind run and see where it takes you. Bullet journaling is a way to jot down a list of things on your mind, or ideas that may have. You also could try a gratitude journal, where you write about what you are grateful for, and what you have, rather than what you don’t have.
Create a journal based on what works for you, and there is no wrong way to journal! So what are you waiting for?
What Journal Should I Get?
If I have convinced you that journaling is worth a shot, then you now need to start your journaling journey! First, you need a journal. Anyone that journals knows the feeling of writing in fresh new pages. So, we have brought together 3 of our favourite journals for you to choose from: 😊
First up we have the Nu: Craze Spectrum Journal. Click this link here to find out more! Available in 8 different colours, you are bound to find your perfect colour.
Another of our absolute favourites is the Nu: Stone A5 Vegan Leather Journal. The Stone range has smooth white 144gsm 100% Tree free paper made from stone. There is no waste water or bleach used in this paper, making it much more environmentally friendly than standard paper. Don’t forget you can also personalise your notebook to make it that much more special for your journaling thoughts.
Maybe you prefer a more structured way of journaling? We have a new planner coming soon including our Navy Planner – which allows you to add thoughts and feelings to your weekly plan! Check it out here and keep an eye out for when you can grab one. 😊
Go and relax in celebration of National Relaxation Day!