How to Use Journaling to Rewrite the Stories of Your Life

Journaling can empower you to take control of the way you see yourself and your life. You don’t have to be stuck with the version of your stories shaped by pain from the past, outside voices, or limiting beliefs. 

You can use writing to understand how the story you live now was created, and then, choose what you want to carry forward and what you’re ready to leave behind. That doesn’t mean you’re going to try to ignore the stories of your past and present, but you can shift the way you see yourself in them. 

And that can change everything! 

When you put words to your experiences, that can help you start to see new meanings, patterns, and possibilities. Your journal can become a tool for healing and self-definition.

We usually think we have to heal what happened, or our feelings about it. But what we need to heal most is the story we have been telling ourselves about it.

Can You Recognize the Narrative that's Been Guiding Your Life?

Start by noticing the stories you often tell yourself. Maybe it sounds like “I’m not enough,” “I always mess things up,” or “People don’t stick around.” 

These phrases might not seem like a full story, but they still shape how you move through life. Write down the thoughts, patterns, and inner dialogue that come up the most. 

Naming them helps you see what kind of narrative you’ve been following, often without realizing it. Once you see it, you can decide what needs to change.
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What are the Limiting Beliefs
that Keep You Stuck

Use your journal to dig into the beliefs that have been holding you back. These are often things you accepted as truth, like “I’m too much” or “I’ll never succeed.” 

Write them down, then ask yourself where they came from. Were they passed down from others? Did they form after a certain experience? 

Seeing them on paper will help you challenge their power. You can then decide whether those beliefs still serve you, and journaling can empower that process.

Think back to moments that changed how you saw yourself. These could be memories from childhood, school, relationships, or times when something painful happened. 

Use your journal to write about what happened and how you felt. Try to focus on your internal experience, not just the event itself. 

When you can look at those moments from the past with curiosity, you may discover the hidden messages you’ve been carrying. Understanding where your the way you see yourself came from is the first step in choosing a new way of defining who you are.

And it Might Be the Meaning You Gave to Those Experiences

Sometimes, the way you interpret a situation sticks with you more than the situation itself. For example, failing a test might have led you to believe you’re not smart. In your journal, write down what actually happened, then explore the meaning you gave it. What did you tell yourself about who you were because of that event? This helps you pull apart the fact from the feeling. Once you do that, you can start telling a more balanced and kind version of the story.

Preserved as you remember them, the old stories often limit what you believe is possible. Use journaling to imagine what life could feel like without those limits. 

What if you trusted yourself? What if you believed you deserved peace or success? 

Write freely about what those possibilities might look like, even if they feel far away. This exercise opens your mind to a different story.

One where your self-worth, growth, and future are not defined by your past.

Future Self Writing &
Creating a New Story

Try journaling as if you’re your future self who has already grown through what you’re working on now. Write in the present tense, as if you’ve already become that version of you. 

Describe what your life looks like, how you feel, and how you handle the challenges that come your way. 

When you do that, it may bring you some clarity and direction. It will also connect you to a version of yourself who believes in change. 

As you write about the challenges you faced, don’t just write about what went wrong, explore how your struggles helped you grow or made you stronger. Use your journal to reflect on what you learned, how you changed, and what you now understand more clearly. 

It’s not rewriting history, but trying to find value in the way you grew from it. So the point of view of the story might change from a sense of defeat, to pride in who you became as a result of what happened.

And as you get near the end of your journaling session, try writing a new version of your story. Focus on the parts that reflect your strength, your choices, how you’ve overcome it, what you’re proud of, your hope for what’s next and what matters most to you now. 

The new story should feel both real and supportive. You get to decide what this new chapter of your life looks like, and your journal can be the place where it all begins.


OVER TO YOU

As you were reading this, did you think of any stories from the past that might not be fully processed or resolved? 

I did, and I noticed that they usually had several limiting beliefs attached to them, some of them generational. If that happens with you, take them one by one and ask yourself, what might be a different meaning you could have chosen, or what are other beliefs that could define the way you see that story?

​See you tomorrow!

Love, Jeanine