Addressing Burnout: Unlocking Healing Through Journaling

Jessica Colarco (: 00:12

Welcome to Healing Is My Hobby, the podcast where we explore the tools, practices, and curiosities that support mental wellness and personal growth. I'm Jessica Colarco, a licensed clinical social worker, and

today we have our segment, therapy is my cardio, where we put ideas into practice, just like moving your body, build strength. These small exercises strengthen your ability to manage stress and take care of your mental health. Together we'll warm up, practice a tool and end with a calming cool down. Think of this as your mental gym. This is where we get active with our healing.

You don't need fancy equipment or hours of free time, just a few minutes and a willingness to show up for yourself.

When you hear the word journaling, you might picture a little pink diary with a lock on it, but journaling for healing isn't about dear diary. It's about creating a safe space to process your thoughts, release stress, and even shift your nervous system into a calmer state. I invite you to pause and ask yourself, when was the last time I wrote something down just for me?

This month we've been talking a lot about burnout.

we're burned out, our inner voice often gets drowned out by the noise of responsibility, pressure, and exhaustion. Journaling helps us slow down enough to listen again. It's not about writing the perfect entry or having all the answers. It's about giving yourself permission to pause and reflect.

Let's dive right into journaling as a healing practice today. It works because writing organizes racing thoughts, reducing mental clutter. It helps you spot patterns and stress, emotions and triggers. It engages mindfulness, slowing down enough to notice the present moment. Research shows that journaling can improve immune function, mood and resilience.

Journaling gives us a lens to look through things.

There are a lot of different ways that we can journal. We can use it to process what's going on around us by just writing freely about what's on our mind, just kind of like a stream of consciousness. I also call this brain dumping, just kind of dumping out whatever is in your head. You can also utilize journaling for reframing. Like you can list three wins or gratitudes at the end of a day. I also like the idea of a victory journal, so reframing how your day went.

Also, we can utilize journaling as a form of self-compassion. We can write to yourself like you would a friend in an encouraging, forgiving, and kind way. There is also a way that we can utilize journaling that's trauma-informed, writing in short bursts, stopping when it feels overwhelming, and grounding ourselves after the practice.

There are no rules in journaling. We don't worry about spelling, grammar, and length. None of that matters. And if you want to reduce the pressure, you can set a timer for five to 10 minutes so you don't feel like you have to write for a really long time. You can use prompts if you feel stuck. Right now, I feel blank, or one thing I want to let go of is blank.

I've been practicing and looking at all these different journals and the journals I've been loving right now are the five minute journal.

Calm the Chaos.

And there's a great journal I love that really guides you through cognitive behavioral therapy work that I do in my practice with my clients. And that journal is called Worry for Nothing. And I love it too because it has a cover that you know, it's just a black cover so no one really knows what you have that journal for. So I'm loving those three journals.

did our workout by exploring all the ways that we can journal. And now we're gonna enter a cool down. I really want you guys to take a moment, grab a writing utensil, a notebook, journal, anything you have. And I want you to set a timer for two minutes and write without editing yourself.

And the prompt is, what is one thing my body or mind is asking me for right now?

Journaling is not about perfection. It's about permission. Permission to process, to release, and to hear yourself more clearly. Every page is a step toward healing.

When we're burnout, our minds are running on autopilot. We're surviving, not feeling. The to-do list never ends. The energy never quite refills. And we start to lose touch with what we actually need. And that's where journaling becomes more than just writing. It becomes a form of self-rescue. When you sit down with the journal, you give your thoughts a place to land.

instead of swirling around in your head. You create space to notice what's been building up, the fatigue, the resentment, the small moments of joy you might have overlooked. helps you translate the chaos of burnout into something you can see, name, and eventually shift. Every page you fill is a quiet act of healing.

a moment when you remind yourself that your voice matters, your story matters, and you are still capable of showing up for yourself one sentence at a time.

Thank you so much for listening today. If you have a friend that you've been encouraging to journal, I encourage you to share this episode with them. If you wanna find out more about me or the podcast, check out healingismyhobby.com. You can follow me on Instagram or YouTube at healingismyhobby. And of course, if you wanna learn more about my clinical practice, you can go to my website, jessicacolarcolcsw.com.

or on Instagram at Jessica Kolarko, LCSW. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great day.