A Journal Can Be a Place to Explore the Life We Want

For author Brianna Wiest, her journal became a place to explore the life she wanted, the person she wanted to become, and write a bridge between the present moment and the life that was waiting for her.

Journaling is a safe, effective, and accessible intervention that can help us along our mental health journey (Sohal and colleagues, 2022). Writing about our emotions can help decrease mental distress, increase well-being, and even improve physical health (Smyth and colleagues, 2018). Journaling may also be a tool for exploring mindfulness and increasing present awareness (Crawford and colleagues, 2021). Therapeutic journaling offers an outlet to process our experiences and emotions, leading us to greater insight and personal development (Mirgain and Singles, 2016). She shared the story behind her latest book.

Author Brianna Wiest's latest book, "The Life That’s Waiting", is a treasure-trove of wisdom and inspiration for living well.

Source: Brianna Wiest/Used with permission

What is your background and what inspired you to begin writing your reflections on life?

I began writing in my late teens. I knew that I loved books and reading, but I did not know that there were the kinds of books out there that could change the way you felt, thought, and interacted with the world day-to-day. The kind that could shift your relationships or your sense of self. The kind that could lift you from a hard time and help transform it into a pivotal one. I first came across books in the philosophy, psychology, and personal growth realm sometime in high school, and I was immediately hooked. I just always had a natural and genuine interest in them.

At the same time, I was in school for English and wanted to become an editor or work in publishing in some capacity. I did do that, but simultaneously, I was penning essays and meditations based on my years of working on my mental health in therapy. In many cases, I had questions that weren’t getting answered, ways in which I kept circling the drain so to say. I’d spend so much time psychoanalyzing myself, that I would only get a clearer and clearer image of the way I didn’t want to be.

I began to use writing experimentally, rather than journaling what I did not want, could I shift my narrative to see a different perspective, and build the experience of what I did? This didn’t just work for me, the more I shared it, the more people resonated and responded. The rest, as they say, is history.

Your latest book, The Life That’s Waiting, explores the space between a desire and its fulfillment, a dream and one's reality. What inspired you to write about personal transformation?

My life is truly unrecognizable from where it was a decade ago, or even a year ago, to be honest. At so many points throughout my life, I felt this deep calling, or even just an itch, to create or become or do or be something. Learning to shorten the space between the impulse to reach toward something and then actually doing it helped me find my courage. I realized that the things we dream of are often ideas that we likewise can fulfill, and the journey to doing so is the act of becoming that ultimately informs our evolution as humans

What are your top three insights for readers struggling to access the life that’s waiting for them?

First, to recognize that the life that’s waiting is already here. It’s always a decision or realization away. Second, to understand that there is purpose in the timing or lack thereof. If things aren’t coming together as quickly as you’d like, there’s often a reason and not a reason you will always understand in the moment. The more uncomfortable the process is, the more important it is to pay attention. What are you releasing, confronting, or changing through this transit? This will tell you a lot about the next phase of your life’s unfolding, and how you are unconsciously preparing yourself to approach it. Last, you cannot force what you do not want, even if seemingly every part of your brain is sure that you do. The conflict between what sits plainly for us at our core, what is most fundamentally and peacefully true, versus the choices, decisions, and realities that are more easily accepted by others or effortlessly fit into the status quo runs deeper than you’d expect. It’s a constant discernment of when we are meant to follow conventional wisdom, and when we are meant to embark upon a path all our own. The more you learn to listen to your intuition on the small things, the more easily the bigger ones will become obvious to you.

How did writing this book transform you, personally? What stands out most in your memory about the process of writing this book?

I had the idea for this book when I was in my teens. I was living the answers in all those years in between, though, of course, I did not know I was at the time.

What do you hope readers take away from spending time with your book?

More than anything, I hope they realize how much they are not alone.

Source: Brianna Wiest/Used with permission