Journal Writing Prompts (Improve Your Mental Health, Know Yourself Better)

For the longest time on my journey to conquering my anxiety, I was told left, right, and center that writing was one of the best ways to improve the state of my mental health. But it didn’t always come easy to me to sit myself down and pour my innermost thoughts out on paper. So, I have created this list of journal writing prompts to help you improve your mental health by knowing yourself better.

Here’s the deal.

Even now I can struggle to allow myself the time to sit and write in a journal.

a girl leaning her chin into her hand, pondering. There is a speech bubble and inside is written 'But what do i write? Think...Think!' She does not know what to write in her journal

Despite the fact that it is private, for my eyes only, I feel a huge sense of vulnerability and exposure wash over me when I start to put pen to paper and that can be daunting.

Sometimes I’m great at it! It explodes out of me and I can only compare it to going hard at a punching bag. A HUGE relief.

The thoughts and feelings that were filling my head and causing my anxiety to rise were suddenly in my journal, on the page in front of me.

A mental health journal is now a well-known aid to helping us manage what goes on inside that head of ours.

But, if you’re anything like me, it’s not always easy to get started and you can sit there staring at your journal wondering what the hell you’re going to write (even when you know you have plenty to say).

Mental health journal writing prompts are a GODSEND in this respect.

By using a journal and journal prompts you can make it so daily journaling becomes part of your routine, part of your own mental health therapy.

And that’s exactly what it should be, part of your lifestyle.

Much like a diet or exercise regime, if you want to see the worthwhile results and longer lasting effects that journaling can have on your mental health and well-being then it MUST become a lifestyle choice.

Integrate it into your everyday routine and see what happens.

What Is Journaling?

Journaling is an effective way to manage your goals and organize your thoughts and feelings, freeing your brain space from their ever invading presence.

It’s getting your thoughts out of your head and on to paper.

By doing this you can step back, look at your journal and allow yourself space and distance from your feelings. Giving you the ability to view them from a fresh perspective.

Things will pop out at you that you never knew you had even given a second thought to.

You can address concerns that are reoccurring or begin to organize yourself to navigate toward a desired path.

It is a great source of anxiety and stress relief.

Suddenly your thoughts are not invisible to you, they are right there in your journal for you to SEE.

This is why journaling is encouraged for helping manage anxiety and depression.

When we suffer from these neuroticism’s we fixate on our problems and struggle to break away from negative thought patterns. Our minds become filled with horrible self-talk and it’s hard to filter through the fog.

But when it’s written there in your journal it’s ten times easier to address and sort out.

Much like lists. I am a sucker for lists.

I would organize every single aspect in my life into lists if I could because there is a definiteness to seeing the items on a list that makes me more likely to actually action them.

This isn’t too dissimilar to how journaling works.

By writing it down you can see it, address it and take action. Clearing your mind and relieving you of your anxiety surrounding the matter.

So, what are journal writing prompts?

Ok, so as previously mentioned this doesn’t come easy to a lot of us.

There are tools and techniques such as Morning Notes whereby the idea is to brain dump anything and everything that comes into your head on the page for a solid 5 minutes as soon as you wake up in the morning without even taking your pen off the paper.

These are great tools and techniques and if you can find one that works, USE IT!

But for many struggling with anxiety or depression, it can be difficult to sit down and address difficult issues even if we know it will ultimately improve our mental health.

We don’t take the necessary steps to find out and implement things that will make us FEEL GOOD.

Mental health journal writing prompts however can be used to GUIDE you through your journal and take some of the pressure off.

I used to sit down and think ‘This will be good for me. I need to do this…..But what do I write?!’

Before I knew it I’m sitting there staring at my anxiety journal and suddenly fixating on a new problem – mind blank!

The idea of journaling should not induce stress or make you feel under pressure.

NEVER feel PRESSURED when it comes to journaling.

There are no right or wrong ways to express your thoughts and feelings.

There is no judgement.

This journal is for your eyes only, it’s completely private.

So, when you begin your journaling journey you might have the odd moments like this where it doesn’t feel like a pleasure to write but more of an obligation (and this is where you can begin to feel stressed) but you must not concern yourself with WHAT you are going to write or HOW WELL you write it.

This is where the journal writing prompts come in. It relieves you of the pressure of wondering what the hell it is you should be writing about!

By using the journal writing prompts provided, you can either work through them chronologically or you can choose one that matches your mood that day or choose one that you think might be a challenge and lead to some great realizations.

It doesn’t matter how you use the journal prompts, they are there as a starting off point. To give you guidance.

What’s important when it comes to using these mental health journal writing prompts?

Being truthful, open and brutally honest.

The best way to manage your mental health whether that be anxiety, depression, loneliness, etc is to live life as your true authentic self.

I know, I know. ‘Oh please, Emma! Don’t get started on the self-love mumbo jumbo!’

Believe you me, I have spent the last 15 years trying to ignore the advice of specialists and psychologists in the world who have been hammering home that the best way to live an anxiety free life is to accept who I am, love all aspects of myself and believe I am worthy.

Accept that I AM ENOUGH.

It’s a constant battle that I work toward every day but let me tell you my friend, these professionals are not wrong.

When you use these journal prompts for the purpose of managing anxiety or depressions then answering them with half-truths WILL NOT HELP YOU.

Journal writing requires complete honesty and transparency, not for anyone else but for YOURSELF.

You need to know what is going on inside that head of yours.

You need to organize your thoughts and feelings and address your problems before you can move forward and work on them.

If you’re only writing down half the story then guess what, you’re in denial about something.

You’re embarrassed about something, angry, upset, ashamed or resentful of something.

The EXACT thing that you don’t want to scribble down in your journal will be the one and only thing that should absolutely be there.

How will these journal writing prompts help your mental health?

Watch the video from Matt D’Avella for an overview of his journaling experience.

Clarify thoughts and feelings –

By writing down your problems, fears or worries then you allow yourself to organize your thoughts and feelings and sort through the brain fog to see them clearly for what they are. It can get pretty messy in that head of ours, by writing it down it clearly laid out in front of us.

Know Yourself Better –

You can never know yourself well enough. We all need to constantly strive to understand who we are as individuals, raise our self awareness and use this to set ourselves up to live a full and prosperous life according to what we need. By following the journaling prompts you will unknowingly tap into aspects of yourself that you never truly understood or even knew was a part of who you are.

Reduces Stress and Anxiety –

Writing is a proven source of anxiety and stress relief. Get the mess that’s in your head onto the paper and the weight will lift off you. Fixating and ruminating on our problems is exhausting and draining. This in turn amplifies the anxiety and stress we feel when we aren’t able to acknowledge and work toward fixing these problems as they pile up until it’s unmanageable.

Problem Solving –

When you clarify your thoughts and feelings by writing them out on paper you can step back and distance yourself from them. Suddenly they are separate from you and can look at them with a different perspective. Perhaps you can view a difficult situation that causes you pain and suddenly see why someone else reacted the way they did. Solutions will appear to you without even looking too hard to find them. They are right there in front of you.

Clear Your Mind –

We are not supposed to hold all of this angst inside our head. We need our brain to run at it’s best each and every day so we can love the best life we can possibly live. It needs to be alert, responsive and on tip top form to function at it’s highest level. Your brain categorically cannot do this if we are filling it with worry, panic, fear and fixations. It drains us of our energy when we give our problems this much attention without dealing with them. By putting it into your journal you clear your mind and allow it to do what it does best – help us live our best life.

The Truth About Journal Writing Prompts

I think this is worth briefly repeating…

Some of these prompts for improving your mental health will be easy to answer. You may find that you could sit and write for hours and it will pour out of you.

This may be because it doesn’t address any particular issue for you and that’s OK.

These prompts are still worth using because it all has the same purpose of helping you know yourself better. It is just one of many techniques for achieving a better state of mental health.

What I will say is that for some of these prompts you will find them difficult.

Some will require you to dig deep and take a really good look at yourself. Perhaps reflect on situations that you would rather forget or open a box that has been shut for a long time because it causes you too much pain.

You must lean into this.

These are the questions that need answering and will take you one step closer to managing your anxiety or depression.

The hardest things in life are always the ones that are worth your attention and these particular prompts that conjure up some hesitation or trepidation in you are the ones where you really need to think, ‘I must answer this with complete honesty.’

Don’t leave any details out. Lean into it and learn to love who you are.