I want to be honest with you. When people first suggested journaling to me I rolled my eyes a little bit. Writing down your feelings felt like something for teenagers, or for people who had the headspace for that kind of thing. And when you are in the thick of cancer treatment, headspace is not something you have in abundance.
I know this because I wrote it down. My very first entry, in a lovely book my mum gave me, starts with the words: "So here goes... my cancer journey!!" — and then immediately admits that I am not a journaller, that my initial reaction when my best friend Kelly suggested it was far from enthusiastic, and that I nearly did not use the book because it felt too nice to record such a difficult time in my life.
I gave it a shot anyway. And something shifted.
That was the beginning of something I now consider one of the most important
practices in my life.
What journaling actually did for me during treatment
During chemotherapy, my mind was busy in a way that felt completely out of my control. Fear, practicalities, grief for a version of myself I was losing, gratitude tangled up with exhaustion. It was a lot to carry, all at once, all the time.
Writing gave those thoughts somewhere to go. Not to fix them or make them make sense, just to release them from my head and onto the page. It sounds simple because it is simple. But simple is often what we need most when everything feels complicated.
It also became a record. On the hard days I could look back and see that I had survived hard days before. I could see my own resilience written in my own handwriting, and that mattered more than I expected it to.
You do not have to be a writer. You do not have to be articulate. You just have to be honest with yourself, even if only for five minutes.
It is not just for the difficult seasons
I still journal now. Not every single day, and not with any rigid structure. Sometimes it is a few lines about how I am feeling. Sometimes it is things I am grateful for. Sometimes it is big thoughts about where I want Elliegance to go, or something small that made me smile that I do not want to forget.
Journaling for general wellbeing is different to journaling in crisis. When life is steadier, it becomes less about survival and more about intentionality. It helps me notice patterns in how I feel. It helps me hear myself when the noise of everyday life gets loud. It is a space that is entirely mine, with no pressure to be a certain way.
I also teach yoga and qigong, and so much of what I share with my students is about coming back to yourself, tuning in, slowing down enough to notice what is actually going on inside. Journaling does the same thing. It is a form of self-inquiry that costs nothing and asks very little of you.
Processing the big things
It does not have to be cancer. It could be a diagnosis of any kind. A loss. A relationship ending. A career change that turned your sense of identity upside down. Becoming a parent. Entering menopause. Any of the moments that uietly dismantle the version of yourself you thought you knew.
These transitions are hard partly because they happen inside us in ways we cannot always articulate out loud. Journaling gives you a private space to work
through what you cannot yet say to anyone else. And very often, once it is on the page, it becomes easier to make sense of.
I have found that the act of writing something down also creates a small but meaningful distance between you and the feeling. You are not inside it anymore. You are looking at it. And from that slight distance, things often feel more manageable.
The page does not judge you. It does not o"er advice you did not ask for. It just holds what you bring to it.
How to begin if you never have
Start small. You do not need a beautiful notebook, though if that inspires you then absolutely go and buy one. You do not need a dedicated time of day, though morning or evening tends to work well for most people. You just need a few minutes and a willingness to be honest.
If you are not sure where to begin, prompts can help. Here are a few I come back to:
Journal prompts to get you started
- What am I carrying right now that I have not said out loud?
- What does my body feel like today, and what might it be trying to tell me?
- What am I proud of myself for, even in a small way?
- What do I need more of, and what do I need less of?
- If I could say one honest thing to myself right now, what would it be?
- What felt heavy this week, and what felt light?
- Where am I being too hard on myself?
There are no wrong answers. There is no wrong way to do this. The only rule is that it is for you and you alone, which means you can be as messy, as uncertain, as contradictory as you actually are.
For now, I just want to invite you to pick up a pen.
You deserve a space that is just for you.
Even five minutes on a page can be the kindest thing you do for yourself today.
WITH LOVE, HANNAH X