Journaling can unlock so many things: your creativity, your productivity, and (our favourite) your mental wellbeing.
From putting a plan together to logging daily activities and exploring deep thoughts in more detail, your journal is an outlet, an expression, and a way to get all that stuff out of your head. Here is why journaling supports mental health, how to get started, and 31 prompts to try.
The link between journaling and mental health
Therapists often recommend journaling to their clients as a way to “supersize” their practice, and with good reason. Journaling can be a tool to help manage your mental health and boost your mood. There are three key ways this happens:
- Developing self-awareness — by getting your thoughts out of your head and onto paper, you can see them, track symptoms, spot patterns, and recognise triggers. As mental health charity Mind explains, keeping a mood diary can help you work out what makes you feel better or worse.
- Identifying negative thought patterns — when you see your thoughts written down, you can spot unhelpful patterns and swap them for more positive self-talk.
- Getting to the root cause — journaling helps you dig into the emotions surrounding an issue so you can identify what is really going on.
One journaler told Mind: “I did many things to help with my mental health journey, and one of them was journaling my thoughts, feelings and experiences. These sessions feel like therapy but even better. There are no time constraints involved and I could go as deep as I wanted with my thoughts or just stay on the surface.”
How to journal for your mental health
As with anything that looks after your health or wellbeing, the most important thing is that you do it. How you do it might look totally different from what feels good for someone else. Still, a few core ingredients can help you get started:
- A quiet and cosy corner — your setup does not have to be fancy, but it should feel inviting.
- A lined journal — you can use any paper, but lined pages can make reflective writing easier to read back.
- A favourite pen — choose one that feels comfortable in your hand so you are more likely to return to the page.
For guided check-ins alongside open prompts, a wellness journal gives you structure without rigidity. Pair your practice with self-reflection journaling or self-care journaling when you want to go deeper.
31 journal prompts for mental health
Save these prompts and return whenever you need a reset. There is no right order — pick one that matches how you feel today.
- Get all your thoughts and worries out onto paper. List everything that is making you anxious right now, and keep writing until you run out of things to say. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy calls this a “worry dump”.
- How likely is it that your anxiety will come true? How often has it come true in the past? It is usually the case that the things we worry about most do not actually happen.
- Do you know what is causing you to feel anxious today? Is there a way you can change the situation to soothe your thoughts?
- How does your current core emotion relate to previous, similar emotions? How did you support yourself in those instances? Can you use any of those tools today?
- What do you need to feel good right now?
- How does this anxiety feel in your body? What might ease that?
- Describe your current physical surroundings. How are they making you feel? Is there anything you can immediately do to change them for the better?
- Turn back the clock 5, 10 or 15 years. What seemed impossible then that you have managed to achieve today?
- What kind things have other people said to you in the last month? Write them down.
- Describe your fear and write out all the “what-ifs”. Now write everything you can do to prevent this fear from happening. Finally, write out how you could repair the damage if this fear were to actually happen. This is fear setting, a technique used by Tim Ferriss and much loved by anxious minds around the world.
- What support are you craving? How can you access that?
- Is there anything or anyone causing you to experience negative thoughts or emotions? Can you remove it or set a boundary to help protect yourself?
- Describe the last time you felt nostalgic. What were you craving or missing?
- Write down the hardest experience you have ever had. What enabled you to get through it?
- Write a message to a parent, family member or friend (you can keep it private) and get out all the things that have been left unsaid.
- What do you need less of in your life?
- What boundaries do you wish you could set? How can you implement them?
- What daily habit do you wish you had? How can you break that down into small achievable steps?
- What is your biggest regret? Are you still carrying it with you? How can you help ease that pressure on yourself?
- What do you stand for in your life? What ignites your soul with passion?
- When do you feel your best?
- Describe one good thing that you experienced today.
- Who are you grateful to have in your life?
- Take a moment to remember the last time you felt lit up with joy. What made you feel that good?
- What does a good life look like to you?
- Plan out your perfect day, step by step. What can you do to help it happen?
- What do you need reminding of today?
- Write down all the good things from the last week. What caused them? How can you add more in?
- If you had a “feel good toolkit”, what would it contain?
- What or who inspires you? How can you add more of that into your life?
- What would you do today if you loved yourself?
Choose your journal
A wellness journal gives you guided space for mood check-ins alongside open prompts. Browse all journals if you prefer a notebook you can structure yourself.
