Putting Thoughts and Feelings Into Words

Have you ever noticed how simply naming a negative feeling can take away some of its power?

This is called affect labelling—putting thoughts and feelings into words to regulate emotion. It’s a surprisingly effective way to calm the nervous system.

Naming feelings isn’t always easy, especially for some neurodivergent folks. But even just trying to describe what’s going on can help.

This is one of the reasons I journal.

While I journal daily, that doesn’t mean pages and pages. Some days, it’s just a couple of lines. It’s a tool I reach for depending on what I need.

As a child, I didn’t journal, but I did have a set of worry dolls. Every night, I’d tell them what was on my mind. I didn’t know it then, but I was offloading—naming my worries so they didn’t have to sit so heavily.

That still works for me now. Only these days, I write.