I Tried Everything for Anxiety, but This Simple Hobby Made the Difference

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A recent social media trend: sometimes the smallest things are what calm us the most.

For years, journalist Charlie Sawyer has lived with chronic anxiety. Since her teens, she has kept journals, writing down everything from the most random thoughts to the most difficult moments that have prevented her from even the simplest of everyday things.

And like many of us who are emotionally attached to memories, she throws away almost nothing: old sheets, tickets, letters, packaging, all of which have been preserved over the years, piled in boxes under the bed.

But at some point, he decided to make sense of all this accumulation. That's how he discovered junk journaling .

This hobby consists of filling a journal with small everyday objects, things we would normally throw away. A modern form of scrapbooking, embraced especially by young people of Generation Z, which counts hundreds of thousands of publications on social networks.

Keeping this "diary" doesn't require any artistic skills and can be done by anyone. The idea is simple, anything that has a story (or not) for you deserves a place.

Although Charlie has tried many forms of self-care, from face masks to new recipes in the kitchen, nothing has had the same calming effect. Keeping this journal has given her a sense of calm that she had never experienced before.

But why does it work?

According to psychologist Dr. Ahmar Ferguson, this practice combines three very important elements for emotional well-being: expressive writing , creativity , and focusing  on a single action. Unlike many things associated with self-care today, there is no pressure to do it right.

"Anxiety is often fueled by perfectionism, by the feeling that everything has to be done perfectly. Keeping this journal takes that pressure off. It's intentionally messy and imperfect, and that's for the best," he explains.