Audio Journaling - What's it all about?
Matt Young 
The benefits of Journaling are many, but can you reap them by simply talking about it too?
What’s all this about “Audio Journaling?”
The benefits of Journaling are many. Whether you’re simply getting thoughts out of your head via a brain-dump, venting about your stressful day, or dreaming of what you want to do next, Journaling can help with all of that.
However, many of us (me included) can’t write as quick as our brains can think. Even the most skilled of typists who decide to journal digitally (i.e. on a laptop), are unlikely to be able to keep up. In that case, Audio Journaling could be the answer, especially for the venters of the world.
Journaling can often result in terrible handwriting and there’s nothing wrong with that; mine is often ineligible and looks like a spider with ink all over its legs has crawled across the page. But that doesn’t matter because I write for me. Equally, ‘thumbing’ long sentences into your ‘notes’ app on your phone, can feel unfulfilling and even more time consuming.
The energy flow with Audio Journaling can be dramatically different. While I still highly recommend that you sit down with a notebook, pen and a cup of tea and journal away, sometimes that just isn’t the right vibe. With Audio Journaling, all you have to do is grab your phone and let the thoughts fly.
Audio Journaling removes the structure, the pressure, and the rsi that sometimes comes with physical writing, and that’s why it’s becoming more and more popular. The TikTok trend mentioning Audio Journaling has nearly 3 billion views already.
THE PERKS OF AUDIO JOURNALING
It allows you to speak freely without filtering your thoughts. If you’re dealing with a difficult situation in your life, Audio Journaling can be a great way of releasing stress, as sometimes, you just need to get it out! Dump those thoughts into your voice app and feel the tensions of the day drift away.
If talking to someone else about a delicate situation fills you with fear, Audio Journaling offers you another solution. We’ve all possibly said too much and poured our emotions out to a trusted friend, only to feel like we wished we hadn’t after all. With Audio Journaling you can trust your phone and talk to the app, no one else is involved and no one else will think any different of you.
Audio Journals are easily accessible too, as we all have our phones on us most of the time. It makes it easy to journal whenever you need to, instead of waiting until you get back to the privacy of your own home. You can Audio Journal virtually any time, anywhere.
Unlike oversharing with your friends, you may find yourself in a situation where you wish you had someone else to talk to. That’s where Audio Journaling offers you another solution. If you need to release negative thoughts or energy, do some self-reflection, or deal with an issue immediately, Audio Journaling is there for you too. You’re able to ‘air that thought’ with no judgement. It can even feel like a healing session without the expensive therapist to pay for at the end of it.
TIPS
When starting an Audio Journaling entry, try not to overthink things. Don’t overcomplicate it, just let it all flow. There’s no right or wrong way to Journal, just allow yourself to talk and let the conversation flow. If you need some structure, simply ask yourself a question beginning with any of the following words: who, what, where, why, how, and when.
You can even think of it like interviewing yourself. Be the interviewer and the interviewee. The best part about this, is that you can also ‘listen back’. That reflection piece can be the difference between simply venting about a situation to realising what it is that is bothering you. If you continue to ‘listen back’ you’ll soon pick up on just how much you’ve grown through Audio Journaling. But if listening to your entry isn’t going to be ‘good for you’, free yourself of that rant and delete away – consider yourself cleansed.
Finally, if finding a ‘safe space’ is difficult to do, why not try it you’re your headphones in. Take a walk around a park or on the way home from work and ‘journal away’. You’ll look like you’re on the phone, yet you’ll actually be working things out, on the go! Plus, there are Audio Journaling apps out there that come with password protection. So, if you are worried about privacy, these could be your answer.
Audio Journaling, is it the way forward? Well for some, it could well be!