Keeping a journal preserves your personal and family history. What an important gift to provide your family members to better understand your experience dealing with multiple myeloma!
If you’ve been wanting to start journaling but don’t know how to start, here are some tips:
Pen to paper isn’t the only way to journal. It’s essential that you find a method that you feel comfortable with. Through our Journaling feature, you can record a video, write a note or record your voice in your personal myeloma journal. Choose the method that works best for you according to your preferences.
If you are having trouble starting and don’t know what to write about, you can start by telling a story about a particular time in your myeloma journey. A good starting point could be your myeloma diagnosis story. If you haven't heard yet, we have a monthly journaling challenge where we'll ask a question related to your myeloma story that you can write about in your journal. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media to make sure you don't miss the journaling question of the month!
Journaling has shown physical and emotional benefits. As with everything else in life, it takes time to see results. If you are looking to start a journaling habit, setting a realistic goal can help you stay accountable. You can start small and increase your regularity as it starts to feel more natural, and you look forward to your journaling time.
Since we launched the journaling feature, over 400 myeloma patients have started benefitting from journaling. Watch the video below and start journaling too. You can keep your entries private or share your journal entry with your family and friends. If you'd like to share your journal entry and myeloma story with our myeloma community, send an email to myeloma@healthtree.org for an opportunity to be featured on our website.
about the author
Jennifer Ahlstrom
Myeloma survivor, patient advocate, wife, mom of 6. Believer that patients can help accelerate a cure by weighing in and participating in clinical research. Founder of HealthTree Foundation (formerly Myeloma Crowd).
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