22 Unique Anxiety Journaling Prompts To Help You Divorce Negativity!
Last Updated on 03/10/2023 by Nicky
Oh yes…my dear friend Anxiety. We meet again. You know, I’d like to say that I didn’t miss you but sometimes I just look for a reason to be anxious.
That’s the feeling of “I’ve been plagued by anxiety for so long that I just don’t feel right if I’m not spinning about something”. Maybe you can relate to grabbing onto anxiety and holding on for dear life.
But I know that having one paranoid and unfounded thought after another circling around in my head is not healthy. So I’ve got something for anxiety this time. If anxiety thinks he’s sticking around this time, he’s got another thing coming.
You see, journaling has been one of my secret weapons when it comes to fighting anxiety (there’s another weapon too that I will share with you later on).
And I believe that if you use the 22 powerful and unique anxiety journaling prompts that I’m going to share with you today, it will slowly become one of your weapons as well. These journal prompts are written by someone who has anxiety but has made tons of progress.
I pray that they will be a blessing to you on your road to recovery. Oh and I’ll also warn you…you may not like some of these journal prompts but I hope you’ll understand the spirit in which they were written.
Okay, let’s jump right in with the anxiety journaling prompts!
Oh yeah, and this post contains affiliate links to great products that will help you in your health journey. I will get a commission if you decide to buy from these links. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Want to read Anxiety Journaling Prompts post later? Save it to one of your mental health Pinterest boards!
– 22 Journaling Prompts For Anxiety When You’re Looking For A Life Line (From Someone Who Gets It)
Something I’ve learned from listening to Mark De Jesus is that many of our mental health challenges are relational…meaning many of our mental disorders and fears stem from how we might be perceived by other people.
Sometimes it’s people you know and sometimes it’s people you don’t know. Regardless, these anxiety journaling prompts will lean heavily on your relationships with others. The writing prompts will focus on how other people influence what you do and don’t do.
We will also discuss how we allow the opinions of other people to hold us back from our true potential or from trying something new or pursuing our dreams.
These anxiety questions will probably be uncomfortable at times. They may even annoy you or make you mad. I hope not but I am giving you a fear warning…these are not the typical anxiety journaling prompts.
1) List 3 ways worrying has improved your life or made a situation better.
2) Name the last time a particular issue was resolved because you were anxious.
3) Who are the people who can destroy any sense of calm you had in 5 seconds? You weren’t anxious before but this person can say something and now your insides are turning cartwheels. Give an example.
4) Now that you’ve named those people, decide if they really need to be in your life.
(I don’t believe there is anything wrong with prayerfully choosing who should and should not have access to your inner circle. Sometimes relationships aren’t healthy and should not be continued and you shouldn’t feel guilty about that).
5)If the answer is yes, then decide how you will deal with this situation so this anxious cycle doesn’t keep happening. It might mean opening up a discussion with them or it might just mean that you have to come up with healthy ways to cope with the triggering words that they say.
6) If you could tell anxiety off, what would you say to it? Don’t hold back! Anxiety deserves it!
7) Do you feel angry about how anxiety holds you back and limits your opportunities? Tell your journal all about it!
8) What are 3 things you would do with your life or goals you would pursue if you didn’t have fear and anxiety?
9) What is it that you think will happen to you if you actually did those 3 things? Describe the worst-case scenario for all 3.
10) How do you think you will feel if the worst-case scenarios did occur?
11) What are some concrete things you do to overcome those fears and pursue your dreams? Create a short list because I don’t want you to be overwhelmed.
12) What is 1 thing you can do to step outside of your comfort zone this week?
13) Who’s opinion matters most to you in the world?
14) Is this person someone who would encourage you to pursue your dreams or someone who would tell you to stay in your lane and not try anything new?
15) If this person would encourage you to stay in your comfort zone, can you commit to not telling this person what your goals are? That way you don’t have to deal with the negativity, pessimism, and doubts this person will cast over your goals.
16) If you insist on telling this person your hopes and dreams, even though you know they won’t support you, can you tell your journal why that is? Why do you feel the need to share private and personal information with someone who doesn’t want to see you grow or better yourself?
17) Do you know that you have a purpose in life? And if you do know that, what do you think it is? (If you don’t know your purpose in life, this website breaks down what our purpose in life should be according to God)
18) I believe that you are looking for solutions to end your anxiety.
Which of the following anxiety-battling ideas would you be willing to try:
reading books about anxiety
listening to podcasts and YouTube videos to help you deal with your mental health challenges
writing in your anxiety journal and using prompts like these
doing online or in-person therapy
all of the above
19) List three things you can do next time you are feeling anxious. I want you to have a list of ideas ready so that you don’t have to think about them. These will be your go-to calming solutions to help you during those periods of intense stress and anxiety.
–What Is Anxiety Really?
Okay, we are now armed with some anti-anxiety writing prompts. But what is anxiety though? When I speak of anxiety am I talking about getting nervous every now and then? Or worrying about some big presentation at work? Nope.
It goes deeper than that. I’m talking about a chronic kind of anxiety that interferes with your life and controls what you do or don’t do. It might be a diagnosed form of anxiety like generalized anxiety disorder (also known as GAD) (source).
Or it might be an undiagnosed form of anxiety that just won’t go away.
Honestly, I don’t think getting a little anxious like before you give a big speech or something else nerve-wracking is all that bad.
It’s natural. A little anxiety can be good in that it can motivate you to make better decisions.
For example, I was a little anxious about my retirement, so it prompted me to set up various retirement accounts so that I won’t have to work until I’m 80 (that’s actually a real thing and it makes me so sad for people who have to do this).
But chronic anxiety doesn’t go away after you’ve given the speech or set up a 401K. As soon as you’ve made peace with one anxious thought, another one is waiting to take its place.
Your anxious thoughts fight the more rational thoughts and come away victorious almost every time. Anxiety is a constant battle that you probably fight every single day and you want relief from it.
I really do hope that the anxiety writing prompts will help get you on a path to healing!
– How To Use These Anti-Anxiety Journaling Prompts For Maximum Impact
Okay, now that we have seen these anxiety-fighting journaling prompts, let’s discuss how to use them. How do you actually journal for anxiety?
Here are a few options:
- Print This Article: Go ahead and print this article and then you can refer to the prompts as you are writing in your journal
- Copy and Paste This Article: If you want to, you can copy and paste this article and create a document in Word or Google Docs. Then you would have room to write your answers to these prompts.
- Future option: I may eventually turn these into an anxiety journaling printable. That way you could print the prompts and have room underneath each one to write your answer. Then you would just add that to your mental health binder
But now what? I hear you asking “How do I journal for anxiety”?
I understand what you mean. So now take these prompts and write your brutally honest answers to them. It might be emotionally painful to do this.
Working through anxiety and depression is hard. I felt like a basket case for all of 2013 and 2014 because I was doing therapy in various forms.
But now being on the other side of that I know that walking through that pain and facing it head-on was the healthiest thing for me to do mentally and emotionally…and spiritually. But this next part is very important…
I don’t want you to just focus on your anxiety. I would love for you to also have a gratitude journal as well as an anxiety journal.
Why? So your soul won’t be completely bogged down in toxic emotions. Your spirit will need something positive to focus on as well and a gratitude journal will help you create balance.
Yes, you are going through something emotional but I pray that there are some good things in your life that you can focus on as well.
– Health Benefits of Journaling
Because this site is called Healthy As You Can, I almost always talk about the health benefits of anything that I am promoting. So what are the health benefits of journaling?
Well according to the University of Rochester Medical Center (source) journaling helps in ways such as:
- Easing our anxiety: Yay! It’s scientifically official, ya’ll. If you’ve ever asked the question “Is journaling good for anxiety?” Then the answer is a resounding yes! Journaling, just in general, helps you overcome anxiety! And then if you concentrate on using mental health and anxiety journaling prompts and ideas, you can really find victory over your health challenges!
- Reduces stress: Do you want less stress in your life? Then pick up a journal and start expressing yourself in new ways. Did someone at work upset you? Write about it. Your journal is a confidant that won’t betray you (unless of course, you leave it laying around in a public place or something…yeah, don’t do that)
- Overcome depression: Using a journal can also help you fight depression. Of course, you will need more than just a journal but you can make great progress with just that alone!
- Helps you identify anxiety triggers: Do you know what it is that is triggering your anxiety? Journaling can help you pinpoint just what it is that is causing you to spin out of control. Your mind will start to calm down and look for solutions instead of just going crazy with fear and worry.
– How To Get Help With Your Anxiety Privately
While I believe that you can make massive progress with an anxiety journal used consistently, sometimes that just isn’t enough. If you suffer from chronic anxiety, then you will need to get help from a licensed therapist.
I know how scary that can sound. I want you to know that there is no shame in getting the help that you need. If you had a broken leg, you would go to the doctor, right? Well, if your mind needs repair, there are experts for that as well.
I’ve personally used online-therapy.com and had great results from it. I believe it played a pivotal role in me overcoming my fears and pursuing my own purpose. I used to be deathly afraid of starting this very blog that you’re reading right now but here I am.
And I believe that platforms like online-therapy.com deserve some of the credit.
You can learn more about online-therapy.com and my experience with it by reading these two posts:
How To Know If Therapy Is Right For You
– Recap On Anxiety Journaling Prompts
Let’s do a brief recap of anxiety journaling prompts before we say goodbye:
- Chronic anxiety is an enemy to our mental well-being and we should deploy every weapon we have to fight it including journaling.
- Many of our mental health challenges are relational or revolve around our relationships with others.
- You can use these anti-anxiety journaling prompts to help you heal and calm your mind, find purpose and meaning, and improve your overall health
- When journaling alone isn’t enough to fight anxiety, then therapy is also a good tool to use in addition to writing. One platform I’ve used and saw a huge difference in my mental well-being is online-therapy.com, which is very affordable! You can create a free account and start using some of its many features today, including its online journal.
Click here to create a free account with online-therapy.com!
Okay my friends, I hope this has been helpful to you. If it has please share it on social media so that it can help others too! Thanks in advance and I will talk to you later!
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Medical Disclaimer: While Healthy As You Can strives to provide the most accurate information, anything you read on this site is purely for informational or entertainment purposes and should NOT be considered medical advice or as a replacement for a doctor’s care, diagnosis, appointment, advice, etc. I am not a medical professional at all. Any information, tips, or ideas that you try as a result of reading this blog is tried at your, the reader’s, own risk.
Mental Health Disclaimer: While I care deeply about your mental health, please know that I am NOT a licensed medical professional, therapist, counselor, social worker, or mental health professional. Any advice here is not to be taken as medical advice or a diagnosis. IF you need to talk to a licensed mental health professional you can use online-therapy.com (affiliate link) or call a mental health hotline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
