How Do You Document and Analyze Experiences? 

In the last decade or so, the idea of journaling and diary writing has been massively popularized and romanticized. Let's be honest, most of us, at some point in our lives have made a new year's resolution to maintain a consistent diary after watching 2000s rom-com protagonists. But people often confuse the two concepts of diary writing and journaling, using them as substitutes for each other.

The difference between the two is fairly simple. A diary is simply a log for one's daily experiences, activities and engagements as they were. Contrastingly, a journal poses as an intimate record of their thoughts, feelings, notions, and observations. It is a safe space where they can uncover and process emotions. It acts as an extension of a diary where one can ponder upon their experiences, solve problems, and introspect. It also provides creative freedom - rather than confining people to the traditional form of writing, it allows them to delve into art, creative writing, poetry, and other forms of expression. 

What Does it Feel Like to Feel Nothing?

Numbness is feeling deflated, as if you were an outsider watching your own life pass by. It is feeling extremely desensitized and detached from your experiences and surroundings to the point that no stimulus has any stirring effect on your emotions and feelings. It is largely a temporary response, a defense mechanism to a deeply saddening or traumatic event, but in some cases it can have lasting effects. The individual cannot deal with their situation anymore so they just “turn it off,” consciously or unconsciously. 

Numbness can have severe implications for one's mental health. It can make people feel guilty or like a bad person because they are no longer able to produce a “socially acceptable” response to a negative situation, raising questions on their own emotional quotient. Furthermore, people tend to turn off their positive feelings too to avoid feeling the negative ones. However, like most defense mechanisms, numbness cannot provide permanent relief. The inevitable return of feelings might overwhelm a person like a flood of emotions.

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7 Journaling Prompts To Overcome Emotional Numbness  

There are quite a few techniques that can help people gradually get in touch with their emotions, at their own pace. Some of these might be drastically contrasting to the other, but helpful nonetheless.

1) Realize Your Own Presence

        Realize the bodily sensations communicating to you right now. Ask yourself how you would describe your current state without using the word numb. 

2) Create an "Emotional Inventory"

         Name one emotion or trait at a time and journal how you relate to it. 

         For instance, I feel happy when _______

         I feel confident when _______

         I feel angry or fearful when _______

         Proceed by thinking about why you are feeling those emotions or traits and what you can do about it.

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3) Write a Letter

        Write down all you want in a letter addressed to the person you are angry at or you blame for the event. Continue the rant until the letter is finished without any censorship. A classic.

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4) Consciously Analyze Your Letter

        A different approach to the letter trick is to start writing the letter and simultaneously reflecting upon why you are feeling what you are feeling before proceeding to the next emotion.

5) Lean on Someone Else's Words

        Read a book or poetry and try to find a quote that truly speaks to you. Journal your interpretation of that quote and why you resonate with it.

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6) Ask Yourself Vital Questions

        If I immediately connect to my emotions right now, what is the first thing I would or would not want to feel? Which emotions are “too much” to handle right now?

7) Take Familial Patterns into Consideration

         Consider how your past experiences in dealing with emotions influences your current practices. Consider how your family taught you to deal with emotions and contemplate how                   helpful those techniques were.

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So Beautiful Humans, let's break down the mispractice of treating people as weak when they ask for help. Feeling numb does not mean that you're broken beyond repair. It just shows that you are human and are on your way to overcoming a difficult phase in life. You've got this! And we've got you.

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