When New Problems Arise

When New Problems Arise

Let us say that you have got this journaling thing down. You have solved a lot of your problems, resolved many of your issues, and your life is much better than before. You are good to go now, right? You are ready to sail off into the sunset and live your happily ever after?

 

Not so fast. That does not happen in the real world! Sure, your life is better, and it will stay better, barring an unforeseen disaster, but that does not mean that it will be perfect. The perfect fairy tale ending is perfect because it ends. Life does not, at least not until you take your final bow, and you want that to be as far in the future as possible.

 

What this means is that you are going to have new problems come up throughout your life. No matter how much personal growth and development you do, no matter how many resources you accumulate or how lucky you are, and no matter how perfect your life may be at any one time, things are going to come up.

 

Some problems are going to be minor. Flat tires. Missing a flight. Getting lost. Other problems are going to be larger. Most people get laid off at some point in their life, for example, and that is a crisis for anyone without a seven-figure bank account.

 

Other problems will be utter disasters. The death of a loved one. A bad diagnosis. Losing your home to a fire or flood. A few of these happen to all of us if we are lucky to live a long life. No one gets to old age without a few catastrophes. That is reality.

 

The one thing all of these problems, from small to tragic, have in common is that journaling can help you cope with them and their impact. It can be a place for you to vent your frustrations and complaints, as well as to give vent to your fears and your grief.  

 

The process you use to work through your current problems via journaling will work just as well on new ones. Go back to the basics and work through the issues the future brings in the same way you work through the ones you have now.

 

Even if you cease journaling between now and then, you can pick it back up. The skills you learn during the journaling process will follow you through life and be there when you need them again.