Journaling and journal writing can be therapeutic, like taking the lid off a steaming pot.Keeping an arthritis journal has shown many positive benefits. Writing in a journal or diary can help you better cope with your illness. Fight back arthritis with the power of the pen.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 10 minutes
Here's How:
- Buy a notebook, diary, or a blank book.
- You should always date your entries.
- Write when you feel like expressing yourself or habitually everyday to develop a routine. Be honest in your writing. View journal writing as an enjoyable task, not as work.
- Write about what challenged you or caused you stress on a particular day.
Results of a journal writing study give credence to a physical-psychological connection of stress and illness. An improvement in disease activity was demonstrated by rheumatoid arthritis patients after journal writing about stressful experiences they endured.
- Journal writing can serve as a vehicle for the expression of negative emotions. Through your writing reveal the emotion associated with the stressful event.
- Write about positive moments too so that your reflections are not all negative.
- Write about doctor appointments and medical treatments because it helps maintain your medical history.
As an added benefit, if you later need to apply for disability benefits, your arthritis journal could be used to organize dates and details, supplementing needed medical records or other documentation.
- Keep your arthritis journal in a prominent place so you remember to use it.
- Remember to write about your dreams, goals, and aspirations, not just actual occurrences.
- Remember to take time to read past entries.
- Handwriting can be a stressful and painful task for people who have lost manual dexterity due to:
- arthritis (especially rheumatoid arthritis)
- basal joint arthritis (CMC joint)
- carpal tunnel syndrome
- tendinitis (or tenosynovitis)
- joint pain in hands, fingers, thumbs, or wrists
- A comfortable pen makes writing easier and less stressful for people suffering with soreness and swelling in:
There are many ergonomic pens designed for maximizing comfort and ease-of-use. If you find handwriting your arthritis journal to be painful on your joints, switch to using your computer, or consider using an ergonomic arthritis-friendly pen.
- Computers also provide a place for mutual sharing and support where people with arthritis can both communicate with each other and learn from each other. Our online arthritis forum and community is an excellent place where those living with arthritis and/or those who have loved ones living with arthritis can:
- ask questions
- gain insight
- share common experiences
- draw inspiration
- encourage each other
- build friendships and camaraderie with others with arthritis
What You Need
- A Journal, Diary, Or Notebook
- An Ergonomic Arthritis-Friendly Pen
- A Positive Approach
- The Commitment To Make Journal Writing Part Of Your Regular Routine
