Journaling - the Downside
When you sit down to journal about that fight with your boss or that breakup that’s still gnawing at you, you’re not just venting. You’re replaying the movie in IMAX—every gritty detail, every sting, now inked onto the page. You’ve already been stewing in it all day, and now you’re, what, giving it a director’s cut? Writing it down doesn’t purge it—it’s like hitting “save” on a Word doc titled “My Misery, Volume 3.” And here’s the kicker: your brain loves a good story. The more you write that negative narrative, the more it sticks—like how you accidentally memorized the jingle from that dumb car ad.
Repetition strengthens neural pathways. It’s how you learned to tie your shoes or sing “Sweet Caroline” off-key. So, when you journal about how “Ugh, I’m such a mess, why does this always happen to me,” you’re not processing—you’re reinforcing. You’re training your brain to star in its own pity party, complete with confetti and a sad trombone. It is not healing... it is more like marinating.
This is incredibly helpful.