8 Journal Prompts for Overcoming Anxiety

When you were younger, did you ever find yourself writing in your journal at the end of the day?

Daily journal prompts are something that came naturally to us when we are little. Who else had a “secret journal” (sometimes with lock and key) to write about all their dreams and wishes in?

As we get older, the desire to sit down and journal may not be as strong. So many other things get in the way.

But that doesn’t mean we should stop journaling – just look at Bridget Jones!

Journal Entry Prompts for Adults

Writing about your thoughts and feelings is a beneficial exercise and not one to be underestimated. When the feelings and thoughts inside us transform into words, it helps us to understand our internal and external influences better, enabling us to function better as people.

Journal prompts can be especially helpful during this time. 2020 has been a challenging year for many, and many of us have had to find our own ways of coping with separation, stress, uncertainty, and anxiety.

Our mental health and personal growth have been challenged. Perhaps to degrees we could not have imagined.

As we continue to find ways to cope, we may want to turn to journal prompts!

Learn more about how journaling can help: How Journaling Heals Mental Blocks

What is a Journal Prompt?

A journal prompt is simply a statement that is supposed to inspire you. When dealing with anxiety, it’s important to give yourself prompts that enable you to deal with your anxiety in a beneficial and healthy way.

You can always create your own journal prompts but below are eight prompts to get you started on your journey.

8 Daily Journal Prompts for Overcoming Anxiety

1. What was the most peaceful moment of the day for you?

If you’re struggling with anxiety at the end of a long day, one of the best ways you can tackle it is to think of the peaceful moments you had throughout the day.

What was the most peaceful moment among all the chaos or worry? Maybe it was cooking yourself a hearty meal? Perhaps it was sitting down with a cup of tea? Maybe it was simply hearing the birds singing outside your window?

Write down your most peaceful moments, and then write how it made you feel.

2. What is the best thing about this holiday season?

This is a good one for Christmas, Yule, and celebrating the New Year’s. This season is wonderful in many ways, but it can also generate stress and anxiety, especially with the global pandemic we continue to be faced with.

So instead of digging deeper into a hole of anxiety, think about everything you love about this season and write it down. Seeing friends and family (even if it’s virtually), or the scrumptious food, or unwrapping a gift or two – what makes you feel happy during this season?

3. What was my best achievement at work today?

Work is a common cause of anxiety. Being pushed too much or not having enough to do; earnings; feeling like a failure or desperate to achieve to the point of nervousness and worry.

So many aspects of work can cause anxiety.

Take this time to think about what you are most proud of when you sit down after a hard day’s work. What did you achieve today? What makes you feel proud of it?

Read this next: Is Your Career Hurting Your Mental Health? Here’s What to do Next

4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy am I in my relationship?

Relationships can be hard, and not just the romantic ones!

If your relationship with a partner, friend, or family member is causing you anxiety and stress, then it may be time to have a good analysis of it. One of the best ways to assess how happy you are in your relationship is to rank it from 1 to 10.

How does it make you feel? What are the pros and cons? Do your pros outweigh the cons? What changes would you like to see?

5. What is my most beautiful feature?

Insecurities exist in all of us. There is so much pressure to look a certain way or act a certain way that many people struggle to be their true selves or express themselves in a way that makes them feel comfortable.

You may feel down how about you look or insecure about how others perceive you.

The key is to focus on the positive! What is your most beautiful feature? Your eyes? Hair? Figure? It doesn’t have to be physical, either. What about your kind heart, your loyal nature, or your ability to see things that others can’t?

Embrace your unique body with How to Love Your Body Right Now.

6. How can I help heal a loved one?

You may feel very anxious and scared if a loved one is unwell. Writing about your feelings can be very helpful, but so can looking at practical ways you can help them get better.

They may be struggling mentally or physically. What can you do to help them?

Perhaps suggesting a variety of healing herbs to prepare as a tea or essential oils to help them relax and unwind. Maybe brightening their spirits with funny tales or sending them a thoughtful gift to put a smile on their face. Even sending positive energy their way can be beneficial for them – and for you.

7. How can I manage my finances better?

Money is a source of worry for many, and the problem is that the worse it becomes, the more we often become paralyzed to act.

But going through our finances in a careful and methodical way can be very helpful. Drawing out a plan can help us see things from a new perspective and provide renewed hope.

Write about your finances, how your current situation makes you feel, the changes you feel you can make on an immediate basis, and the long-term changes you can work towards.

8. What are the good things about this world?

It is not uncommon to have anxiety about the challenges, cruelties, and misery that occur in the world right now. This is a world where the dark and light battle on a regular basis. When the darkness seems overpowering, it can be difficult to see the light at all.

This is where writing about it really helps. Stories on the news, natural disasters, injustice – they can break our spirits and make it difficult to cope.

When you feel like this, write down all the good things about this world.

How many people are out there fighting every day for justice, for both people and animals? How much compassion exists in the stranger who gives his meal to a homeless person? What about those who rescue animals from cruelty and neglect? Or the nurses and doctors helping us cope with this pandemic? Look at the beauty of nature – the forests, rivers, and mountains?

This is a world of beauty, as much as it is a world of despair. When things become too much, write about the good things.

Use the Power of Writing

Using journal prompts for anxiety over time will help you to deal with worrisome thoughts.

Try writing in your journal at least once a week. Whenever you feel anxious, sad, or down, remember that writing can be a wonderful release.

Thoughts and feelings exist for a reason. Both the positive ones and negative ones are not there to be ignored or buried. They are itching to get out, but how they release themselves is down to you. They can be released in a healthy or unhealthy way. Feelings and thoughts that release themselves unhealthily – in manners that are destructive to you and others – only do so because they have been given free rein to do it.

Putting your thoughts and feelings onto paper gives them life, and when they are given life, you wrestle back some control over them. This is the transformation of negative into positive. It is an art that everyone has the potential to be a master of.

How do these journal prompts make you feel? Have you tried them?

Related article: Guided Meditation to Lower Anxiety & Raise Happiness