“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”
— Ernest Hemingway

We all face unexpected challenges in life. My wife and I have been trying for a second child for nearly two years now, to no success. Before our first child, we suffered through chemical pregnancies and early miscarriages and coming to terms with the fact it might never happen. I had to be strong for my wife who took it incredibly hard and deeply personally, but on the inside, I was finding it just as hard. Hopes would be raised and then dashed. My dreams of being a father and having a family seemed like they would never come true. Emotionally, I was in turmoil and struggling to come to terms with the feelings of powerlessness.

Adversity is a part of life that we just can’t avoid. Life will test you. It’s not a matter of if, but when. We can’t control the challenges we face or the obstacles that will be put in our way, but what we can control is how we respond and react, and it is understanding this that allows us to shape the type of person we want to become.

Your journal is a fantastic tool to help you navigate through turbulent and challenging times. Whether it’s clearing your head, processing what is happening or planning and strategising for a way to move forward, journaling is not just a way to cope and survive through adversity, it is a way to grow and thrive through it. It’s what helped me stay positive and grateful during my own recent difficult times and I know it can do the same for you.

---

Why journaling is a powerful tool during tough times

---

“And why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice!”
– Marcus Aurelius

We’ve all experienced those moments where life feels heavy – where the oppressive weight of pressure, expectations and responsibility feels too much of a burden. Our mind feels overcrowded and unable to focus. It becomes impossible to weigh up decisions because of the numerous doubts, fears and frustrations we are experiencing simultaneously.

Journaling is a way to cut through this noise.

• It brings clarity: That feeling of overwhelm? Of your mind racing and fogging up your path? Journaling forces you to slow your thoughts down by writing them down. It’s a simple thing, but seeing your multiple thoughts expressed in black and white on a page in front of you can make it easier to understand what is happening, and make the correct path or course of action immediately obvious. Journaling encourages you to stop and think, rather than jumping from one decision to the next.
  
• It releases pressure: Emotions guide our decision making, whether we are aware of it or not, and when we are stressed and under pressure and expected to burden responsibility, we are in a heightened state of emotion, and at that point, those emotions can dictate our actions rather than inform them. Your journal is a place to express the emotions you are feeling in a given situation, to confront and interrogate them and to reintroduce logic. Are the emotions you are feeling useful to you in this situation? Or are you feeling panicked or scared and it’s likely to lead to poor decision making? Don’t bottle up those emotions, instead, use your journal to relieve pressure.
  
• It builds resilience: The more consistently you use your journal, the more examples you have of times you succeeded and overcame adversity, of times you faced challenges and came through the other side. Of patterns, lessons and personal growth that demonstrate you have the toolset to get through what life throws at you, and you have the ability to learn from and grow from any challenge.
  
• It puts history on our side: Whether intentionally or not, our past experiences influence our decision making. If you touch the iron while it’s on and burn your hand, you’re likely to be much more cautious around the iron in future. Sadly, the decision making process isn’t always as straightforward as this. As Frank Sonnenberg said, “Lessons in life will be repeated until they are learned.” But those lessons don’t always appear in the same form. Danger isn’t always in the form of an iron, for example. What journaling does, is it allows you to identify patterns, similarities, recurring thoughts and actions that lead to certain outcomes. Over time, you can apply what you’ve learned historically to challenges you face in the future and this can be hugely beneficial – meaning you don’t have to face each new challenge from a completely standing start.

---

How to journal through adversity: a step-by-step guide

---

So, we understand the benefits of journaling through adversity, but how does that look in practical terms?

---

1. Acknowledge reality

---

The first step is to be honest about the reality of your situation and face your challenges. Begin by writing down what is happening and how it is making you feel. Try to avoid censoring yourself and try to avoid assigning blame. You are trying to acknowledge the reality of your situation and your feelings towards it. Naming these emotions will help you better understand and communicate your feelings, which is a vital step to understanding what is currently driving your decision making process and your actions. Use simple “I am…” statements to name your emotions such as:

“I am overwhelmed.”
“I am angry.”
“I am afraid.”

Facing the reality of your situation is the first step to being able to change it. 

---

2. Reframe the challenge

---

With the situation and your emotions expressed, it is time to work on reframing the situation in your mind. Read through your entries, understand the situation and your emotions and then ask yourself; What can this teach me?

Every hardship carries lessons and opportunities. It may be difficult to see it, but this is an opportunity to learn about yourself and grow. To learn something about patience, strength, humility, grit. Look at some of the ancient Stoic philosophers, many of whom faced unfathomable hardship, but were still able to learn and implement the lessons from those challenging times. Use journaling to find the meaning hidden inside the mess.

Try writing:

• What is this challenge forcing me to learn?
  
• How might this experience make me better?
  
• When have I faced similar challenges and how did I overcome them?
  

---

3. Define what you can control

---

The Stoics can teach us a lot about overcoming adversity. A key idea of Stoic philosophy is your ‘sphere of influence’, which asks you to think about the things you can directly control (a very small sphere that largely equates to internal things – how you choose to react, how you choose to feel, what emotions you choose to express), then think about the things you can influence to some degree (A slightly larger circle that might include family relationships, friendships, professional relationships), and then finally your circle of concern (much larger external forces that you are right to care about but are largely outside of our direct control such as the weather, poverty, climate change etc.) Facing adversity can often make us feel powerless or lost. Journaling can help you refocus on what is within your control and what’s not.

Make two lists:

• Things I can control
  
• Things I can’t control
  

This shift in focus lets you know where to put your efforts. Sure, the situation you are facing may be outside of your control, or caused by things outside of your control, so where should you focus? On the things you can control. 

---

4. Track small wins

---

In difficult times, it can be easy to lose sight of small victories and progress, but it is in difficult times that it becomes even more important to track these wins and successes.

Use your journal to log your wins, no matter how small: a tough conversation you handled well, a workout you showed up for, a decision you made with clarity. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the wins build up when you are actively looking for them, and this sense of momentum and forward progress helps build resilience, even in times where the odds seem stacked against us. 

---

5. Reflect on growth

---

You will face many challenges and much adversity over the course of a lifetime, and each time you do you will come out stronger and more resilient, having learned new lessons and new strategies. Your journal is a way to document this, so make sure you frequently go back and look at early entries. Make note of how your thinking has evolved, of the challenges you have overcome and how your strength has grown. Look at the previous times you faced innumerable odds and felt as though you could never make it through and then did. A consistent journaling habit becomes an evolving record of your strength and resilience — proof that you can endure, adapt, and rise.

---

Journal prompts for overcoming challenges

---

Journal prompts can be an extremely useful tool for helping us think about and approach challenges in a new way. When you’re facing adversity and you’re not sure what to write, use these prompts to get started:

---

• What’s the hardest part of this situation for me?
  
• How am I stronger today than I was a month ago?
  
• What lessons am I learning through this adversity?
  
• What’s one thing I can control today?
  
• What advice would I give a close friend going through this?
  
• What new opportunities could eventually come from this experience?
  

---

Challenges, hardships and adversity are inevitable. What is not inevitable is how you choose to rise to those challenges and how you conduct yourself. Obstacles can often be an invitation for us to discover our grit, reinforce our values, and grow our strength.

Journaling won’t overcome the challenge for you or make the hard parts easier, but it will help you face them with more clarity, courage, and resilience.

P.S. Ready to deepen your growth?

Check out my guide on How journaling can help you discover your personal philosophy and continue building a life you’re proud of.

---

---