Journal Prompts for Anxiety (45 calming Journal Prompts)

Journal Prompts for Anxiety

If you struggle with an anxiety disorder, you may be interested in trying anxiety journal prompts to help keep your mind calmer. 

Journaling is such an important tool to help with anxiety, stress, depression, and in dealing with traumatic events and for any mental health issues one may have. 

And if you want to start journaling for anxiety but are not sure how or where to get started, these journal prompts for anxiety can help.

Any anxiety sufferer knows how important it is to stop worrisome thoughts before they become a runaway freight train you cannot stop.

And that is why Journaling for anxiety is a good idea because it’s a great way to reflect, deflect and question thoughts and worries so they don’t spiral into a full-blown panic attack. 

Plus even when anxious thoughts are present, journaling is a powerful tool to keep anxiety from keeping you in its grip. 

Like many mental health problems, anxiety is quite disruptive to one’s life and therefore a major source of debility reducing the quality of onces life. 

But unlike physical health conditions, anxiety is misunderstood and can therefore really shake your confidence and sense of self.

While that is bad enough, anxiety imprisons you into this tunnel of darkness and doom fanning worries till they balloon into a big horrible situation, while in many cases, the reality may not be as bad.

But at that moment you don’t know better.

So to stop such situations journaling helps you pick through your worries, take a closer look, examine them in a healthy way, and take the power away from your anxious thoughts. 

With journal prompts for anxiety, you are able to sift through them and discard the outrageous distortions made up by your anxious mind.

Benefits of journaling for anxiety

If you have not experienced the healing power of journaling, you may wonder, “does journaling for anxiety really work?”

The answer is yes. A 2018 study found that journaling helped to relieve mental distress and resulted in improved mental and emotional well-being.

Journaling helps you to examine your negative thoughts and in examining, you can reflect on these feelings.

Journaling helps you to become aware. You learn what you are worried about, and what your anxiety triggers are.

And when you examine your negative thoughts, worries, and fears through journal writing, that can help you to question their validity.

How likely is the thing you are worried about likely to happen?

And if it did happen how awful would that be? Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as you think?

Journaling gives you clarity so you realize that perhaps things are not that bad and if they are you are able to come up with solutions so you finally feel in control again.

Also, you can use previous journal entries for a reality check to calm yourself down next time.

Journaling can help you reframe your thoughts and build a more positive brain. With daily journaling practice, you will eventually change your neural pathways and become a more positive person.

Research shows that anxiety affects your mind negatively leading to structural degeneration and impaired functioning of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex. And cognitive behavioral therapy is recommended.

While journaling is not the same as seeing your therapist, journaling has some elements of cognitive behavioral therapy. And that makes journaling a great tool for anxiety management.

It is quite grounding to see what you were worried about last year, last month, or last week and see how far you have come.

Journaling gives you perspective and allows you to focus on the present moment rather than worrying about things likely to happen in the future.

Also, journaling can help you identify your anxiety attack triggers, so you can work through them or even avoid certain unhealthy things or situations.

Journaling may lead to acceptance of what is beyond our control.

It helps one to let go and instead of cowering in fear, journaling helps you to confront negative thoughts instead of ruminating on them.

And in so doing you find your inner strength and power over anxiety.

Also, journal prompts for anxiety offer an easier way to focus your thinking and give you a starting

point so you don’t feel mental blocks that looking at a blank page can create.

Sometimes having anxiety journaling prompts in one neat place such as an anxiety-guided journal book can be helpful.

If you need such an idea, here are some guided journals you can use:

The Calm & Mindful Notebook or this Cultivating Calm journal, 

Or this awesome Soul Therapy journaling if you are into lists, how about 52 Lists for Happiness? 

This is a gorgeous notebook with 52 lists that will inspire you, and that you can reflect on to spar personal growth and peace of mind.

You can also try The Happy Book -an interactive book that allows you spaces to draw and doodle, make lists, and write notes creating a record of things that make you happy.

So as you can see the benefits of journaling are numerous and so developing a journaling practice has amazing benefits for your well-being.

This post contains affiliate links. See the full disclosure here. 

Please note: If you are really struggling with mental health and anxiety, you should seek professional help. I am not a professional counselor but you can find an online therapist here and can get help from the comfort of your own house.

How To Start Journaling For Anxiety

There are really no rules about how to journal for anxiety. But of course, it goes without saying that you will need a notebook.

Any notebook will do. But personally, I think a cute notebook is so much nicer.

Sometimes you may need to just brain-dump and free-write your thoughts whenever you feel the need to.

A brain dump of your thoughts and worries is a powerful way to just offload oppressive feelings of anxiety and negative thoughts or whenever you feel on edge.

Sometimes especially when you have no one to talk to, or are not yet ready to share your thoughts, a brain dump is such a great way to keep worries from overtaking you.

You see as our day unfolds, we can accumulate so many thoughts and feelings. That can become overwhelming.

So when your brain dump and just write it all out, it’s like unloading a heavy load. You feel lighter and less overwhelmed.

Eventually, you may be able to share these feelings with a therapist, a friend, or a family member.

Journaling is therefore an effective tool to manage anxious thoughts.

You can also develop a daily routine where you journal at the end of the day as part of your night routine or first thing in the morning as part of your morning routine.

However, you can write in your journal anytime. Rules are not necessary.

Do what you feel works for you.  And as mentioned you may choose to free write or use a guided list of anxiety writing prompts.

What should you journal about?

When you are not used to writing you may find it overwhelming at first. You may wonder how you start journaling for anxiety.

But sometimes writing whatever comes to mind is the best thing.

Remember this is your private safe place and you can let your mind free and let it all out.

Or you can use a list of journal prompts like the ones below.

The good thing about using guided prompts is that they offer you a starting point to start your daily journaling.

But again there really is no right or wrong way to journal.

So let’s look at this list of journal prompts for anxiety.

Journal Prompts For Anxiety 1 How do you feel right now? What’s causing you to feel this way?

2 what are you worried about right now and why?

3 Is the thing that you are worrying about really a big deal? What are some things you can do to minimize any damage?

4 The last time you were worried about something, what helped?

5 What are some of your proudest moments?

6 What are some activities that you enjoy the most?

Write 5 of those activities down.

7 Today up to this moment was a great day because…

8 What bad habits do you have that are likely causing your anxiety?

9 Picture yourself in your favorite place. Where are you? And how does this place make you feel?

10 What are some of the things that you hold dear and why11

What was the last great book you read? List a few of your favorite books. What would you like to read next and why?

12 Name three people you admire and really look up to.I

3 What do you believe you are capable of?

14 Remember a time you did something difficult. How did you accomplish it and how did you feel?

15 If you could live your best life, what would it look like?

16 Reflect on your best trip. Where did you go and why is it so memorable?

17 What is one memory that makes you happy?

8 List your favorite ways to practice self-care

19 Write what you would say to your best friend or someone you really care about if they were going through what you are going through. Now say that to yourself.

20 What are your proudest achievements, and moments?

21 Are there some things you can change in your life that would make you feel better?

22 Examine your relationships. Which one is bringing joy and happiness? Which one is not? Are there some relationships you need to let go of?

23 Describe your perfect day. What can you do to have a great day on most days?

24 If you had no fear at all what are some things in life you would like to do?

25 Go back to an old childhood memory that bothered you. What would you tell your younger self now knowing what you know?

26 Write down five affirming statements such as” I am strong,” “this will not break me “I’ve survived this before I will survive this time” inhale peace and calm, exhale worry” I can do this; this too will pass”I am calm, I am in control of my mind.”

27 What are your hopes and dreams? How do you envision your life 5 years from now?

28 During challenging moments I should remember that…

29 3 positive things most people don’t realize about you are?

30 In what way do you think you self-sabotage yourself?

31 Who is the one person you admire the most? What are the best things you have learned from them?

32 What 5 things are you most grateful for?

33 Who are you most grateful to have in your life right now? Write a letter to them telling them how and why you appreciate them.

34 Write a letter to your future self where you are no longer anxious

35 What do you need to do more of?

36 What are some things making you feel stuck? What one small step can you take today to start getting unstuck?

37 How likely to happen are the things you worry about?

38 How is anxiety holding you back39 Write 3 compliments you received from friends family or even strangers

40 What makes you truly happy?

41 Write a letter of recommendation or a love letter to yourself. 

43 What triggers cause your anxiety?

44 Brainstorm 5 ways to cope with your anxiety

45 Make a list of small everyday things that make you smile

46 Write 10 of your favorite songs.  How do these songs make you feel?

47. Write a letter to your past self

48. In what ways does your anxiety hold you back? What are you not doing because of anxiety?

49.

Final thoughts about journal prompts for anxiety.

I hope these journaling prompts ease your mind, help you to let go of things, destress, and quiet your thoughts and fears.

If you are new to journaling, give it a chance and see how therapeutic and healing journaling for anxiety can be.

Remember that journaling for anxiety is so much more effective when it’s a daily practice. So try and make time to journal every day.

I truly believe journaling for anxiety, and a lifestyle that supports mental health will help you grow into the calm, less anxious person you want to be. When you master your thoughts through journaling you will find your own strength and learn to believe in yourself.

Instead of feeling anxious about the future, you will develop resilience and the belief that you can handle any difficult situation life presents.

Plus through journaling for anxiety you find the ability to deal with any negative experience as well as harness the power of positive thinking.

You can fight and beat anxiety. But please don’t go through it alone.

Seek the help of a professional counselor as well because mental health and anxiety like many areas of health require more than one approach.

Wishing you all the best!