Why and How to Journal Your Serious Injury Recovery

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury, there’s likely only one thing on your mind: Recovery. You want to get to a place where you feel whole, rested, and safe again. You want to move past the trauma of your event.

There are many therapeutic steps that go into an effective recovery, but one of the most practical may involve detailing your journey in a pain or symptoms journal. The practice can offer you both emotional and logistical benefits. Here are just a few:

Journaling can help you work through tough emotions.

A writing habit can help you reduce or cope with post-trauma symptoms, including both anger and anxiety. This reduction in stress can also help you manage tension in your body and assist with heightened focus—side effects that can enhance your progress towards your health goals.

Journaling can help you see patterns relevant to your care

When you’re facing a long-term process such as healing from a serious injury, it can be hard to know precisely how you’re responding to therapy or medication. Conversely, it can be easy to play down or ignore chronic pain or seemingly small symptoms. By creating a daily log of your symptoms, you’ll be able to show yourself and your care team what seems to be working—in an objective, measurable way.

Journaling can help your legal team pursue the compensation you deserve

Part of your strategy for recuperating after your injury needs to involve planning for your future. This can be confusing, stressful, and scary. If your injury compromises your ability to move, speak, or perform other basic activities (including those related to your job), you’ll need to figure out a way to provide for your future.

Work with a Personal Injury Attorney

An experienced personal injury attorney can help you put together a strategic case to work towards the compensation you deserve. In order to make your case as strong as possible, you’ll need evidence linking your pain and suffering, as well as all related care, to the inciting event. A dated log of your recovery processes can help bolster your claim.

Fortunately, achieving the benefits of routine post-injury journaling can be very simple. Start keeping a log of your recovery as soon as you reasonably can after your incident to establish an accurate baseline. Be as detailed and accurate as possible, and try to be consistent with your entries. Both hard-copy and more tech-based logs will work; use the tools that are easiest for you to access. (If you’re using a paper-based system, however, be very sure to date your entries.)

Initially, this might seem like a burden, but as you lean into the psychological benefits of charting your progress—and as your legal team is able to use your journal to help your case—you’ll be glad you made this habit part of your recovery.

If you have been injured in an accident and are unsure what could be compensated, contact McCraw Law Group. We can help by explaining your options.