Journaling is a great hobby; it’s one that is inexpensive to begin doing but can give you a staggering amount of benefits if you allow yourself to really immerse yourself in it. It gives you a way to get out your thoughts and feelings, de-stress, and keep a routine in a way that some other hobbies or activities may not allow you to do. 

In our senior living communities in Michigan, those of us here at Kingsley love to see our residents embracing doing something that they love, or, in some cases, trying out a new hobby for the first time. If you’re looking for reasons to get started, then look no further! Here are some reasons you should look into journaling: 

 

Giving Yourself Someone to Talk To

As seniors, sometimes it can be difficult to find someone who really connects with you in a special, meaningful way. Conversation is so vitally important to our social and emotional well-being, and as seniors, having the kind of conversational partner that you crave can be challenging.

With a journal, you’re able to have that “special someone” to talk to, even though it might not be very conventional. It helps you to get out your thoughts and feelings without needing to worry about who you are telling them to or how it may sound to someone else. 

Though our senior living communities in Michigan have many different residents of a wide array of ages, professions, and backgrounds, sometimes it’s best to have someone to talk to that you are intimately familiar with and you can trust with anything: yourself. 

 

Having a Creative Outlet

Doing something creative and having a creative outlet is paramount as you age. It helps you to stimulate your mind and keep you entertained when it may feel a little cramped and boring at your senior apartment center. 

Plus, journaling is a low-cost creative hobby to begin doing. Though you can add more supplies along the way, the only things that you really need to get started are a pen and paper. It doesn’t even have to be a notebook; if you can find some scrap paper to get your thoughts out, then you can start journaling!

But journaling doesn’t have to be only using pen and paper, though! As you continue on your journaling journey, you can add more fun materials to your journaling kit. Stickers, washi tape, colorful pens, stamps, and more are exciting and colorful ways to spice up your journal if you want to make it stand out from the crowd. Adding more fun elements might make it even more exciting to work with! 

 

Writing Down Your Memories

When you journal, it’s important to remember that the person you’re writing to doesn’t always have to be yourself. You can write to anyone you’d like: a friend, a family member, a loved one who’s passed, the sky is the limit. 

Writing to another person when you journal opens up the opportunity to share your memories with them. Use your journal as an outlet where you’re able to speak about your childhood, or your love story, your thoughts and fears about moving from your own home into one of our senior apartment communities in Michigan, and more. Whoever is lucky enough to receive that journal will have an intimate connection to you and your life that they’ll be able to hold on to for years. 

A senior woman writes in her journal in a cafe

 

Helping Reduce Stress

Writing is also an incredible way to help reduce your stress. Sometimes even being able to just get your thoughts down onto the page can help relieve some of the tension building up in your life. 

Journaling can help you accomplish this in several ways: redirecting and refocusing your thoughts; prioritizing your thoughts, fears, and concerns; and practicing more positive self-talk. Of course, there are many other ways that journaling can help, but these are just a few!

Being able to lay out your thoughts in a logical manner can help you take a look at what is really causing the stress and upset in your life. When you’re feeling negative emotions, take a look back at your journal and see what was going on at that time. What could have caused it, and how can you prevent that same instance from occurring in the future? 

 

Keeping a Routine

Keeping a routine is monumentally important as we age. Routines help to keep and maintain brain function, which is vital to help seniors with cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Plus, routines can help with stress and, for seniors, can help maintain their independence. 

Following a routine can also help seniors who struggle with knowing what to do during the day. Suddenly having so much independence, especially when you no longer have to worry about other household chores like laundry or housekeeping, can leave you or your senior loved one floundering on what to do with so much spare time!

That’s where adding something like journaling can come in. Not only will maintaining a journal help with their mood and brain function, simply keeping the routine of journaling everyday can help you feel calm and collected. 

 

How Kinglsey Can Help  

Here at Kingsley, we want you to feel like our senior living communities in Michigan are your home. We want you to have a happy, stress-free life in a place where you can truly enjoy your retirement without having to worry about anything like housekeeping, food, and other day-to-day stressors.

However, we do realize that we cannot always meet the needs of our seniors who desire for that creative outlet, no matter how much we strive to do so. This is why we believe that journaling, or crafting, or some other kind of enrichment apart from what we offer is so important for our residents. 

We’re proud to be able to offer regularly scheduled offsite visits for shopping, allowing for our seniors to purchase whatever they’d like to use for their own hobbies. Plus, with such a diverse population of seniors, our residents are sure to find someone who shares the same passion as them that they can connect with.

If you’re interested in making Kingsley your new home, contact us today!