History is littered with men who kept journals, from Ernest Hemingway and Bruce Lee to Winston Churchill and Thomas Jefferson. They couldn’t be more different, yet these men had one thing in common – they found strength and comfort through writing down their thoughts.
Professor James Pennebaker, who specialises in social psychology at the University of Texas, has spent many years looking at how writing down our feelings may boost immune functioning. In Opening Up by Writing it Down, which he co-authored with Joshua Smyth, Pennebaker says expressive writing improves health and eases emotional pain. He includes findings from hundreds of studies showing the health benefits of expressing emotions, particularly after trauma.
Pennebaker explains: “By writing, you put some structure and organisation to those anxious feelings. It helps you to get past them.” Pennebaker has also found that suppressing negative thoughts, rather than talking about them, can compromise immune functioning.
This is why the effect of writing journals can be so powerful for men. The single biggest killer of men between 20 and 49 is suicide. Part of the problem is that when men become depressed, they conceal their feelings and prefer not to seek help. While 67% of women will tell someone if they feel depressed, only 55% of men will confide in someone. This is slowly changing and men are speaking out – from Rio Ferdinand to Professor Green and Prince Harry.
While this work is hugely important, there are still plenty of other men out there who may not feel quite ready to talk and prefer to keep things private. This is where the power of keeping a journal can be so helpful. It’s the next step, without feeling too exposing, where men can communicate in private the highs, lows and all their emotions in between. Journals are a safe space to offload, without fear of being judged.
I was raised not to share what was going on at home and therefore how I was feeling. I wasn’t able to express the things I was going through with friends and family. I was so disconnected from my emotions that I was unaware of what I was thinking or feeling. Staying emotionless and carrying on just felt easier.
Everything changed when my mother took her own life and, two years later, I suffered a breakdown. I was 19 years old and I still wasn’t ready to talk, so my counsellor recommended keeping a diary. Nine years later, my journal has changed my life. It was the catalyst I needed and now I am able to share, when I want to, what’s on my mind and how I’m feeling.
The effects have been so beneficial that for the past two years I’ve been researching and designing a unique type of journal. MindJournal is a guided project; a notebook filled with questions and tasks that encourages men to record their innermost thoughts. Each copy contains an “instruction manual” to inspire would-be writers to express themselves freely.
When it comes to my own writing, there’s no specific set of rules or expectations I set myself. I view journaling as medication for my mind. When I have a headache, feel anxious or stressed, I jot down a few sentences. I don’t have fixed times – it can be in the evening or first thing in the morning.
I don’t always want to talk about my feelings; sometimes I still like to keep things private. And that’s OK, because I’ve got my journal.
