Nastya Volokhatyuk, paper republic’s e-commerce extraordinaire, has been using her journals as a form of therapy for years. She explains how she does it, why it helps, and how others can use their own journals to help improve their mental wellbeing.
What do you mean by journaling for mental health? What are you specifically using your journal for?
I find life is littered with distractions. I don't believe that humans were designed to be surrounded by so many people and so much information every day. Even going to the office for work, I meet so many different energies that impact me in one way or another. And just being in the city impacts me too.
My mind gets filled with so much clutter. I started dreaming about things and people that I don't know well, but they are in my subconsciousness. It's all stored in there, and it comes out while I'm dreaming.
So, whenever I feel any sort of anxiety or I feel overwhelmed, I write in my journal.
How does journal writing help with anxiety?
I think writing by hand has a deep connection to meditation because you're focusing on something; on one task. You’re holding a pen, and you feel the pen in your hands, and then you focus on the piece of paper and think: what am I going to write?
When I write about the things that clutter my mind, I’m letting them go. In some respects, I use my journal in the opposite way to those who jot down to-dos and plan out their days. Because I don’t write to remember, I write to forget.
It's a meditation for me. It helps me let go of things that I don't need. The act of writing something down gets it out of my mind and onto the paper. So I can leave it there. I've been writing down my therapy sessions in my journal too, it helps me reflect.
What is your journal set up?
I have three: a grand voyageur [xl] in olive green (that was my first journal). I have a black portfolio [a6]; it's a patchwork portfolio so there are different pocket colours. And for work I have an [a5] portfolio in the special edition colour of firenze.
Paperwise, I usually buy the refills for Ukraine. I like the illustration and I love blank paper. It's perfect for the way I write. And I also now have a card and cash holder which I love for storing stuff in.
What is your method?
Like a lot of people, I often have the problem of what to write. I have tried lots of different forms of writing in the past. For example, a daily diary: I did this. I am experiencing that. But I stopped because it wasn’t working consistently for me.
My journal is now a dumpster for many different things. Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed, I just open my journal and start writing. That could be in the office, in a coffee shop, even on a tram.
My start point is: what do I see? In cognitive therapy, when a person is experiencing panic attacks or is highly anxious, a technique used to calm them is to find a few objects in the room that share the same or similar colour and name them.
When I feel overwhelmed, I just start writing about what I see in front of me. Do I see people? Do I see a cup? What does the cup look like? What does the cup make me feel? How do I feel in my chair right now?
I dissect the room or whatever space I'm in, and I write about that. This brings a strong sense of calm and helps to reduce feelings of anxiety.
What do you think it is about the practice of journaling that helps?
I think writing down thoughts and observations in a journal is like talking to yourself. And when you are writing, you are with yourself, you are present and you are talking to yourself. We rarely talk to ourselves. Some people are afraid to talk to other people, and for them, it can be also beneficial. I don't think it's about writing per se. It's about having a dialog with your inner self. But because there’s a pause between your thoughts and the words your write, it’s more creative. It is more poetic.
Do you go back and read things you previously wrote?
For me, it’s more about the practice of writing, than reading what I wrote. I rarely go back, but when I do, I reread a lot of stuff. Some things are pretty painful to read, because I tended to write the most, when I was going through the most. Sometimes I reread stuff and I think: wow, I survived that?
It can create a sense of empathy to yourself, to your inner child, and to the person you were back then. I don't necessarily like rereading my notes but sometimes it is necessary because it makes me realise how things have improved. It makes me come back to the present and appreciate the moment and the person I am right now.
You speak beautifully fluent English, but you’re native Ukrainian. Do you write in Ukrainian, or English?
Actually both. It depends on the mood. When I was a kid, I wrote my diaries in English so my parents wouldn't understand them. And I got so used to writing in English that for a while it was only English. But there is a certain pleasure in writing your mother tongue. I've noticed that when you're writing in a foreign language, you are not as honest. The words don’t have the same weight. For example, if I say the word 'love' in English and 'love' in Ukrainian, they have two very different connotations; in Ukrainian, I actually feel that emotion.
What is it about paper republic that you like compared to other journals and notebooks?
My parents are doctors, so they were always coming home with planners and diaries that they were given by drug reps as promotional material. I tried many of them, but I was never consistent with them. Then, for a time, I was writing digital notes, mostly on my phone. But I always liked the idea of writing on real paper.
Then I got my first grand voyageur, and it felt so cool with the real leather, and how it looks chunky, and the fact that you can put so many different things inside. It makes me feel like a real writer because it's pretty and vintage and everything I wanted to be when I was a teenager, imagining myself like Susan Sontag (an American writer, critic and public intellectual) drinking bourbon and writing in my leather journal. I have never been so consistent with journalling, as I am now.
Finally, for anyone else suffering with anxiety out there, what’s your advice on how they can start journal writing to make themselves feel better?
First, just open your journal and write something down. Start with just describing the room you are in and the things in front of you. Remember, it is the act of writing that is the therapy here; you’re not aiming for a Booker Prize.
Write about what’s around you. Write about how you feel. Write about what you ate today. Whether you like what you have written doesn’t really matter. The most important thing is to let go of the idea of how to write ‘correctly’ and just write something.
And little and often really helps. That’s why I use the xl size; it’s large enough to allow me to write freely, but small enough I can take it everywhere, and pull it out of my bag on the tram, in a café, at my desk, whenever I need it.
Writing has really helped me manage my anxiety and stress. I would really recommend others in a similar situation to give it a try.
Want to start journalling? Browse our handmade leather journals here.