As a writer, the first thing I’ve always turned to when this happens is writing in a journal by hand. Here are 3 reasons why journaling by hand can help slow your mind when you need it to. There’s no spell check—and you don’t need spell check in your journal because it’s just for you. For me, writing to slow and clear my mind isn’t the same as writing document I’ll refer back to like a to-do list is. Now though, the idea of doing journal writing by computer makes me far more nervous than journal writing by hand.