Journaling for a Healthy Mind and Soul 📝

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As we wrap up a roller coaster year, we take time to reflect on how to start the 2021 year on a good foot. Keeping a journal is a great way to let go of the year’s anxiety and stress, and recommended by many experts for a healthy mind and soul. According to many research journaling helps:

• Clear your mind. Write your thoughts down and clear up the mental space. 
• Destress. Expressive writing is a great way to cope with daily stress and anxiety.
• Promote self-improvement. Keeping track of what you do leads to a record of your personal growth. 
• Self-heal. Studies have shown that expressive writing even helps wounds heal faster! 

While there are many ways to keep a journal, we share some companies that make it easier to grab a nice journal or even scrapbooking materials for the extra fancy journaling. 

• Rifle Paper Co is a paper products retailer from Winter Park, Florida founded in 2009 that has grown organically year-on-year. Aside from notebooks and journals, it has ventured into paper prints and various home decor. 
• Paper Source is a leading retailer of, as its name suggests, paper products, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It’s well-known for its cards and stationery but is a favorite over the holidays for its personalized gifts including custom journals. 
• Anthropologie is a lifestyle brand under its parent company Urban Outfitters that, like its parent, often sells lifestyle goods including journals. 
• United Art and Education is a privately-held retailer of art supplies from Fort Wayne Indiana founded in 1960. While its focus has been on art and classroom supplies, it also retails journals for younger children through its online store.  
• Michael’s is one of the nation’s largest publicly-owned arts and crafts retailers. It had a great 2020 year with an e-Commerce growth of 128% due to the pandemic and many more people taking to arts and crafts. 
• Hobby Lobby is a privately-owned company that operates a chain of arts and crafts stores in 57 states. It is headquartered in Oklahoma City and was founded in 1972. 
• Jo-Ann is another privately-owned national retailer of arts and crafts born out of Cleveland, Ohio in 1943 and now has more than 865 stores across 49 states.