The Benefits of Journaling: Why Writing Things Down Can Support Your Mental Wellbeing

Life in the music industry can move incredibly quickly.

One night you might be performing in front of hundreds or thousands of people. The next morning you could be travelling, answering emails, preparing another set, working in the studio or wondering where the next booking is coming from.

Alongside the excitement can come pressure, uncertainty, comparison, rejection, creative frustration, financial concerns and long periods away from home.

Sometimes your mind simply needs somewhere to put everything.

One simple tool that may help is journaling.

Journaling doesn’t require expensive equipment, specialist knowledge or hours of your day. At its simplest, it means regularly writing down your thoughts, feelings, experiences or observations.

For DJs, musicians, producers, artists and others working within music, it can provide a private space to process what is happening both professionally and personally.

Here are some of the potential benefits of journaling and some simple ways to get started.

What Is Journaling?

Journaling is the practice of writing down your thoughts, feelings, experiences or ideas.

There isn’t one correct way to do it.

Some people write several pages every morning. Others write for five minutes before bed. Some keep gratitude journals, while others simply open their phone and type whatever is on their mind.

Your journal might contain:

• How you’re feeling
• Things you’re worried about
• Something that happened during the day
• Goals and ambitions
• Things you’re grateful for
• Creative ideas
• Problems you’re trying to solve
• Things that went well
• Things you want to change

The important thing is that the journal belongs to you.

It doesn’t need to be beautifully written or grammatically perfect. Nobody else even needs to read it.

1. Journaling Can Help You Organise Your Thoughts

Have you ever gone to bed physically exhausted but found that your mind won’t switch off?

Your thoughts can jump from one thing to another:

“Did that set go well?”

“Why hasn’t that promoter replied?”

“I need to finish that track.”

“What am I doing next month?”

“Did I say the wrong thing earlier?”

Writing some of those thoughts down can help get them out of your head and onto the page.

It won’t necessarily solve every problem, but seeing your thoughts written down can make them feel more organised and manageable.

Instead of dealing with ten thoughts simultaneously, you can begin looking at them individually.

2. Journaling May Help With Stress

Music can be incredibly rewarding, but working professionally within it can also be stressful.

There may be deadlines, irregular working hours, travel, financial uncertainty, demanding schedules and the pressure to remain creative.

Journaling can provide an opportunity to acknowledge those pressures rather than continually carrying them around.

You could start with a very simple question:

“What’s stressing me out today?”

Write the answer without editing yourself.

You may discover that what initially felt like one enormous problem is actually several smaller issues, some of which you can do something about.

3. Journaling Can Help You Understand Your Emotions

Sometimes we know something isn’t right without knowing exactly what we’re feeling.

Are you angry?

Disappointed?

Embarrassed?

Anxious?

Exhausted?

Lonely?

Frustrated?

Journaling can give you the space to explore that.

Try writing:

“Right now I feel…”

Then continue the sentence.

Don’t worry about whether the answer sounds sensible.

Learning to recognise and name your emotions can be an important part of understanding yourself.

4. Journaling Can Help You Spot Patterns

One of the most useful aspects of keeping a journal is being able to look backwards.

Over time, patterns may become clearer.

Perhaps you notice that you regularly feel anxious before certain types of performances.

Maybe your confidence drops after spending too much time comparing yourself with other artists online.

Perhaps you become particularly exhausted after several consecutive late nights.

Or maybe you notice that your mood improves after exercising, seeing friends, spending time outdoors or taking a break from work.

These patterns can be difficult to recognise when you’re experiencing each day individually.

A journal creates a record.

Once you identify a pattern, you can think about what might need to change.

5. Journaling Can Help With Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome can make you discount your achievements.

You play an incredible gig and think:

“I got lucky.”

Someone compliments your production and you think:

“They’re just being nice.”

You receive a major opportunity and wonder:

“What happens when they realise I’m not good enough?”

A journal can provide evidence against that internal narrative.

Keep a record of things you’re proud of.

They don’t need to be enormous achievements.

You might write:

“I played a great set tonight.”

“Someone told me my track helped them through a difficult time.”

“I handled a difficult situation professionally.”

“I finally finished the track I’ve been struggling with.”

“I was nervous but performed anyway.”

On days when self doubt appears, look back at what you’ve already accomplished.

6. Journaling Can Encourage Gratitude

The music business can encourage us to focus constantly on what comes next.

The next booking.

The next release.

The next festival.

The next milestone.

The next thousand followers.

The next opportunity.

When we’re constantly looking forward, it can become surprisingly easy to forget what is happening now.

A gratitude journal deliberately shifts some attention towards what is already good.

At the end of each day, try writing down three things you’re grateful for.

They can be significant or extremely ordinary:

A great conversation.

A crowd responding to your favourite track.

Someone checking in on you.

Getting home safely after a gig.

Hearing a brilliant new record.

Having an evening with no commitments.

Gratitude doesn’t mean pretending difficult things aren’t happening. It’s about recognising that difficult and positive experiences can exist at the same time.

7. Journaling Can Support Creativity

For creative people, a journal doesn’t only have to be about emotions.

It can become a creative workspace.

Write down:

• Song ideas
• Lyrics
• Track titles
• Concepts
• DJ set ideas
• Artists you’ve discovered
• Samples you want to investigate
• Event concepts
• Visual ideas
• Things you heard someone say
• Experiences that could inspire music

Ideas often arrive at inconvenient moments.

Capture them.

Something that looks insignificant today could become the beginning of a track, song, event or creative project six months from now.

8. Journaling Can Help You Process Difficult Experiences

Rejection is part of working in music.

You may not get the booking.

A label might reject your track.

A collaboration might fall apart.

Someone might criticise your work.

An event you’ve spent months preparing could go badly.

Our natural reaction can be to replay these experiences repeatedly.

Writing about what happened can provide some structure.

Try asking:

What happened?

How did it make me feel?

What was within my control?

What wasn’t within my control?

Is there anything I can learn from it?

What do I want to do next?

The purpose isn’t to force every negative experience into a positive one.

Sometimes something simply hurts.

But journaling can help you process what happened rather than allowing it to endlessly circle your thoughts.

9. Journaling Can Help You Recognise Progress

Creative careers rarely move in a straight line.

Progress can be so gradual that you don’t notice it happening.

Imagine finding a journal entry from three years ago saying:

“I’d love to play my first festival one day.”

You’re reading it backstage at a festival.

That’s perspective.

Recording your goals and experiences gives you something to look back on.

You may discover you’ve come much further than you realised.

10. Journaling Creates Space Just for You

Much of modern life is public.

For artists, it can feel even more public.

Instagram.

TikTok.

Comments.

Followers.

Messages.

Reviews.

Streaming figures.

Promotional content.

Sometimes even personal experiences become potential “content”.

Your journal doesn’t have to be content.

It doesn’t need likes.

It doesn’t need comments.

It doesn’t need to impress anyone.

It can simply be somewhere you can be completely yourself.

That may be one of its greatest benefits.

How to Start Journaling

You don’t need to buy an expensive journal or commit to writing several pages every day.

Start small.

Give yourself five or ten minutes.

Use a notebook, your phone, tablet or computer.

You could begin with five simple prompts:

1. How am I feeling today?
2. What’s taking up most of my headspace?
3. What went well today?
4. What am I grateful for?
5. What do I need right now?

Write without worrying about spelling, grammar or whether it sounds intelligent.

This isn’t an assignment.

It’s yours.

Try the Three Minute Post Gig Journal

For DJs and musicians, Soundcheck recommends trying a simple reflection after a performance.

When you’ve had time to come down from the immediate adrenaline of the gig, write three things:

ONE THING THAT WENT WELL

Maybe you connected with the audience, performed well or handled an unexpected problem.

ONE THING I LEARNED

Perhaps there is something you’d approach differently next time.

ONE THING I’M GRATEFUL FOR

It might simply be the opportunity to perform.

Then stop.

The aim isn’t to spend an hour analysing every transition, note or audience reaction. It’s to acknowledge the experience, learn from it and move forward.

Does Journaling Improve Mental Health?

Research suggests that certain forms of expressive writing and journaling can have psychological benefits for some people, including helping people process experiences and emotions.

However, journaling isn’t a cure for mental health difficulties and it isn’t a replacement for professional help when that is needed.

It is better thought of as one tool within a wider approach to looking after your wellbeing.

And journaling won’t suit everybody.

If writing extensively about something difficult leaves you feeling considerably worse or overwhelmed, you don’t need to force yourself to continue. Consider speaking to someone you trust or seeking appropriate professional support.

You Don’t Need to Write the Perfect Journal

One of the easiest ways to give up journaling is to turn it into another thing you believe you have to do perfectly.

You don’t.

Miss a week?

Start again.

Only have two minutes?

Write for two minutes.

Don’t know what to write?

Write:

“I don’t know what to write today.”

Then see what comes next.

Your journal isn’t something you have to perform.

There is no audience.

And in an industry where so much can revolve around performance, image and perception, having somewhere you don’t have to perform at all can be valuable.

Sometimes You Need More Than a Journal

Writing things down can be useful, but sometimes we need another human being.

Soundcheck provides free, confidential and non judgemental support for people working throughout the music industry.

Whether you’re a DJ, musician, producer, artist, manager, promoter or someone working behind the scenes, we’re here to provide a space where you can talk openly about what’s happening.

You don’t need to wait until you’re in crisis.

Sometimes you just need someone to listen.

We’re here to listen. We’re here for you.