In just about any legal proceeding, a paper trail leads to power. In this article, we’ll discuss how you can help yourself enormously by journaling during your divorce process.
Goal of Journaling During Your Divorce
Because you’re not looking to lay the groundwork for the next NYT Bestseller, you don’t have to be the next Hemingway in order forjournaling to work for you. In fact, probably the only persons who will need to read your journaling are you and your attorney.
The overriding goal of journaling during your divorce is to create a paper trail that documents specifics and establishes patterns of behavior. There’s no getting around the fact that things can get pretty hectic before and during a divorce, and it can be very difficult to remember all of the seemingly little things that happen throughout any given day.
What to Journal About
Journaling through your divorce is miles away from keeping a traditional diary. While it an certainly help you if you need to vent, divorcejournaling should be kept to short entries about daily events associated with your divorce – no matter how remotely. This can include things like your spouse:
- Using abusive and threatening language towards you or your children
- Forgetting to pick up the children from school
- Harassing you in any way
- Talking about martial assets that may be subject to distribution in the divorce
Simply jotting down the date, time and brief summary of what happened should suffice. Keeping this information can prove to be vital should your divorce lawyer request any information to establish a timeline and pattern of behavior on the part of your spouse.
Other Benefits of Divorce Journaling
As stated above, in addition to providing a paper trail, journaling during your divorce can be a fantastic way to blow off steam. The cool thing about journaling is that there are other benefits as well.
It allows you to see how you’ve grown after the process. Once the dust settles after your divorce, you’ll be able to look back to how you survived one of life’s toughest hurdles.
Journaling helps to get rid of the pain quicker. The more we read or experience something, the easier it becomes. With each exposure, the associated negative emotions become weaker and weaker.
It gets the brain energized. When you’re not restricted by the threat of censorship, your brain thrives. By journaling, you’re exploring your difficulties further, which often leads to inventive solutions.
The Men’s Legal Center is Here to Help You
If you’re going through a divorce or are thinking about it, we’d welcome the opportunity to share advice and point you to other resources that may be of assistance. Contact the offices of the Men’s Legal Center in San Diego at (619) 234-3838.