How To Use Journaling to Combat Anguish

There are many methods and tools you can use to ease your worries. Journaling is a very effective tool to relieve anxiety. Whether you’re dealing with seasonal inner discomfort, or you’re anxious throughout the rest of the year.

One of our favorite tools is writing. Recording your thoughts is an acclaimed therapeutic practice that with a long list of benefits for your mental health.

Here are some tips on how writing can help you stay afloat on your blue days.

Smash Anxiety And Depression With Journaling

Why journal for anxiety?

The act of writing in your journal is very therapeutic and helps reduce anxiety for several reasons.

Capturing snippets of your life in the journal helps to build a coherent mosaic of your own story.

As your story unravels, you get a clearer sense of who you are and who you want to become.

Identify your worries – First, it can help you get those anxious thoughts and fears out of your head. Anxiety worsens when we focus too much on what we are afraid of. Just writing out what you’re thinking can help you isolate the areas of concern. Once you formulate and name those fears, it will be easier to target-manage them.

Gain clarity – Journaling is also good for finding clarity when your anxiety is from specific situations that have been frustrating you. Maybe you’re trying to solve a complex problem, navigate through a difficult predicament or make a big decision, and you’re getting anxious over your inability to recognize the right path to take.

Organize your thoughts – You have a million questions, you’re weighing up options, you’re considering multiple variables and possible outcomes. It’s a labyrinth! Just writing about it can help you organize your thoughts and get the clarity you need.

Tame the panic – It’s also a good activity for distracting your mind when you are going through a panic attack or a particularly bad anxiety day. The act of capturing the niggling thoughts will focus your mind and once the reason for your panic is on the paper in front of you, it’ll give you a sense of better control.

General Tips for Journaling

If you are new to journaling, here are a few tips to help you get started:

Ignore all rules of writing – This is important because if you are paying too much attention to grammar and sentence structure, it will be hard to focus on your thoughts and feelings. Nobody is going to read your journal, so just write how you want and don’t worry about errors.

Use a journal and pen you LOVE – One of the best things you can do before you start journaling is to find a journal you absolutely adore. It should be a perfect size, something you like to look at, and easy to open and lay flat while you write. Experiment with different journals until you find the type you personally love. Add in your favorite pen, and you’re ready to go!

Combine journaling with affirmations – Affirmations are an amazing tool when you want to be happier and more optimistic, get the right focus, and improve your mental attitude. You get to choose what affirmations to use, whether writing them down or saying them out loud.

Add it to your daily routine – Lastly, it is really helpful to add journaling into your daily routine, either in the morning or evening. This helps you stay consistent so that you can reap lasting benefits rather than a one-off relief.

What to Write About in Your Journal

The great thing about journaling is that you can write about anything and everything!

Just pick up a journal you like, treat yourself to nice stationery, and get writing.

To make it easy, here are some ways to get started:

Write about your day – If you ever used a diary as a teen, you probably know what writing in a diary is like. You can journal the same way, where you just write about your day, how it went, what your mood was if anything is bothering you, and what your plans are for tomorrow. A lot of stuff comes up just from this simple journaling method.

Do a 5-minute stream of consciousness – Another way to journal for your anxiety is stream of consciousness writing. This is a brain dump where you just write whatever comes to mind, switching topics as much as you need to, as long as you keep writing. Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes, and just make sure you are writing something the entire time.

Use a journaling prompt – When all else fails, find some journaling prompts that are for people with anxiety.

To start you off here are some great topics to write about.

• What are the first signs of your anxiety?

• Can you pinpoint what triggers your anxiety?

• How would you describe your anxiety in terms of what it looks, sounds, and feels like?

• Which fears do you have?

• Is there anything that can make you better right now?

Journaling for the Seasonal Anxiety

If you are experiencing anxiety in the fall season, there is no reason you can’t journal about that specifically!

There isn’t a time of year when journaling is better than another, but if you have never written in a journal before, fall is a great time to start. For many people, fall feels like a new start.

It is the start of the 4^th quarter, everyone is back to their normal schedules following the summer break, and you are starting to get ready for the holidays.

From relieving your stress to getting back to your goals, you can benefit in so many ways by writing in a journal during the fall season. This is true whether you are brand new to journaling or coming back to it after a long break.

How To Start Journaling

You can use your journal to restart your life. It helps you get back on track, set your goals, and really see what your priorities are. Maybe you are feeling a little lost, unproductive, or unmotivated.

If you don’t know why it is impossible to fix it on your own. You can find a lot of clarity just by writing in your journal every day.

You need to be open and honest with yourself in your journal in order for it to be the most beneficial for you.

Start writing stream of consciousness style, where you just write about whatever comes to mind. You can feel free to bounce back and forth between topics, based on where your mind goes.

Before too long, you will have gained a lot of clarity and will be well on your way to having the fall season ever.

Starter Journaling Prompts For Anxiety

• What are the first signs of your anxiety this time?

• Which specific aspect of this situation is making you anxious?

• Can you describe what your perfect day would look like?

• Do you have any idea what changes you can make to ease any stress you currently have?

• Is there anything you do like about this situation?

Try to shift to a more positive mindset by writing down some fun activities you have planned for the fall, like a fall bucket list, and see how you feel when you’re done.

Formulating the reasons for your anxiety and gathering them on the pages of your journal will enable you to manage them.

Think of them as a flock of sheep that needs to be herded by their shepherd, you.

Some will be malleable, some will bleat incessantly, some will be stubborn, and some downright rebellious.

And some may pleasantly surprise you. But the shepherd is the boss, and they are, after all, just sheep.

Now that you have gained some view of your unruly herd through journaling, what can you do to make it serve you better?

A sheep farmer from Virginia, Craig Rogers, lives by the rule

‘Tend to the flock but care for the individual.’’

He says that:

‘’…the success of a shepherd or shepherdess is in the compassion they have for each individual. This means being able to identify a sick or injured sheep or lamb within a flock of hundreds or thousands of sheep…. The more concern the shepherd has for the individuals who are in need of health care…. the healthier the flock and the more profitable the whole operation is.’’

What your journal has revealed are the sick lambs that need tending to, lest the sickness spreads and infects the entire flock.

Because, unlike lambs, you can’t slaughter your thoughts, but you can shape them.

Turn Negative Thoughts into Positive Ones

Whenever you struggle with your anxiety, it is often from fearful thoughts. This can happen at any time, but you may have noticed that it is worse in the fall season.

If during this time, you are struggling with your anxiety, and feel like your negative thoughts are only making it worse, it might be time to turn them into positive thoughts.

As discussed, journaling can help you pinpoint, gather, and organize at least some of the thoughts that give rise to your anxiety.

Recognize and Banish Irrational Thoughts

The easiest way to start turning your negative thoughts into positive ones to reduce anxiety is by recognizing and rationalizing your irrational thoughts.

Everyone has these types of thoughts, but people with anxiety tend to really focus on them, and often turn them into something they’re not. Irrational thoughts are ones that are based more on your fears and worries, and less on what could (or has) realistically happened.

For example, if you keep getting panic attacks when thinking about your kids going off to school for the fall season, where are those negative thoughts coming from? Are you really concerned something is going to happen to them or is your mind creating something irrational?

Sometimes it helps to write down everything that is giving you anxiety, highlighting all the negative thoughts, then deciding whether it is a rational thought or not.

Consider the Worst-Case Scenario

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous tip, as people with anxiety are often envisaging the worst-case scenario. Instead of looking at all the possible options, you are only focusing on the negative. Not just regular negative situations, but ones you have created in your mind.

Think of something that gives you a lot of anxiety, such as going in for a job interview.

It is normal to feel a little nervous and anxious, but if you have such bad anxiety that you are getting panic attacks and can’t go to your interview, it is time to figure out why that is.

What is the worst possible thing that could happen?

In most cases, you might end up saying the wrong thing, and have to correct yourself.

You might not get the job, but think about it like this: If an interviewer takes one thing you said out of nervousness instead of really looking at your qualifications and what you bring to this job, do you really want that job?

Probably not.

The worst-case scenario is that you don’t get the job, but if you don’t go to your interview, you’re not getting it anyway.

Your anxiety has completely sabotaged your chances by convincing you the worst-case scenario has already happened.

Find and Focus on Positives

Another way to reverse your negative thoughts and make them positive is to think of good things in your life right now.

Ask yourself:

Is there something good right now in my life?

What is working really well in my life right now?

Which thing is bringing me joy right now?

If you are struggling with anxiety, try not to dwell on your worries, but focus on things you can look forward to. Remember, whatever you focus on, grows.

This doesn’t mean ignoring issues but rather shifting your thoughts onto the positives.

If you intensify your attention towards the positive things, then the feelings associated with them will grow, pushing the bad stuff to the margins.

Problems’ significance will shrink. The bad and the ugly will no longer loom like menacing giants in your mind.

It’s easier said than done though. That’s why it’s important to stick with it and be consistent. The more you practice, the more you’ll be able to manage the negative thought patterns, and replacing them with positive ones will become easier.

@Feature Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Disclaimer:

This article was written by Zuzana Halliwell. I am not a doctor or health professional and cannot be held liable for the information written here. This article is meant to provide information about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The content is based on my own personal experience and on information provided by medical professionals that is available to the public. It is not intended to provide medical advice. Do not use it as an alternative to seeking help from a medical professional.