Journaling to Cope With Anxiety

Anxiety can be a constant loop of overwhelming worry, and sometimes, just letting that messy tangle of emotions out can help. Journaling is a highly recommended stress-management tool that can help you reduce anxiety, lessen feelings of distress, and increase well-being. It can be a way to untangle your thoughts, process emotions, identify patterns, and find some clarity in that mental chaos.

Not only is it simple and effective, but it can also be fun. There are many ways to journal, so you can choose the journaling method that works best for you. You can begin journaling daily, weekly, or as needed when stress gets too intense.

Unlike just thinking about your worries (aka ruminating), writing them down forces your brain to slow down and organize your thoughts. It can minimize some of the roots of your anxiety through this focused examination. Research suggests that it may help lower stress, reduce anxiety, and improve your overall well-being.

Keep reading to learn more about why journaling for anxiety can be a powerful tool for examining and shifting thoughts from anxious and ruminative to empowered and action-oriented.

Journaling to Challenge Anxious Thoughts

A big part of journaling for anxiety is using it as an opportunity to challenge the automatic negative thoughts that are driving your worries.

The goal of this process is to get your worries on paper so you can break the cycle of rumination, challenge those thoughts, and come up with ways to address them.

Here’s how to start.

Write your worries.

Begin by journaling for five to 15 minutes, writing about whatever comes to mind. Continue until you feel you’ve expressed what needs to be said without slipping into rumination.

Describe the events currently troubling you. Remember, with anxiety, it’s often not the present but concerns about future possibilities that cause stress.

Tip

Write about what is happening right now. You may notice that what is really stressful for you is the possibility of what could happen next. This realization might bring stress relief in itself!

Reread and rethink.

As you revisit your writings and think about your worries, consider your choices. Could things be different? Can you change your situation now or alter how you view it?

Ask yourself:

• How likely is it that this will happen? How do you know? Are you sure?
• If your fear comes true, could it be less negative than you expect? Could it be neutral or even positive?
• Can you use your situation to achieve a better outcome? Can you use what you have to make the most of potential changes? Could a change occur that would be even better?

Challenging your thoughts can help you relieve anxiety. It helps you see that things are less likely to happen than you think or that they are not as bad as you think they could be.

Think differently.

When you identify different fears or concerns, write them down in at least one way, preferably more, to change how you think about them. Create a new narrative or set of possibilities for yourself. Write these beside the fears in your mind right now.

Examining your cognitive distortions can also be helpful. Changing habitual stress-inducing thought patterns can be beneficial.

Recall your strengths.

Reflect on the toughest challenges you’ve overcome. In your strongest and wisest moments, could you use that same strength and wisdom to navigate this potential challenge?

What might you learn from it? How could you gain strength as you face these new obstacles?

Remembering your strengths nd best moments can remind you that, even if current circumstances are unpleasant, you have the strength to handle what’s ahead. You might discover new strengths you didn’t know you had.

Consider a plan.

Assuming what you fear did happen, what would you do? You don’t have to create a full plan—just try to jot down the resources you would utilize and the next steps you’d take.

Thinking through your plan takes away the fear of the unknown. If you know that you would have the resources available to you should you need them, your mind is more likely to stay away from the worst-case scenarios (toward which we all sometimes gravitate).

Decide how to prepare.

Come up with at least one thing you can do right now that would prepare you for what you fear. Perhaps you could:

• Build your resources by reaching out to friends and strengthening your relationships
• Develop skills that are useful now and in the future if your fears are realized
• Create an effective stress management plan to help you be more emotionally resilient, should you face a big challenge or need to endure some extra stress

Putting your energy into a plan can help you move out of a place of anxiety and toward a place of empowerment. Even if you don’t need them, you have resources that can help you in your life right now (plus, you’ve distracted yourself in the process).

Freewriting

Freewriting involves writing down your thoughts, whatever they may be, without censoring or editing them. The purpose is to explore your thoughts and feelings and to uncover the wisdom and understanding you already possess.

To begin:

• Set a timer. Choose a time limit that works for you (and if you’re unsure, try writing for 15 to 20 minutes).
• Write everything that comes to mind. Avoid the temptation to edit yourself. Write down precisely what you’re thinking, regardless of how strange or silly it seems to you—and write it quickly so you don’t have a chance to censor yourself.
• Don’t worry about grammar or spelling. Freewriting can lead to more typos and misspellings—and that’s alright. Don’t interrupt yourself to correct mistakes; just keep writing.
• Write until your time is up. If you’ve run out of things to write about, write about that feeling, or keep writing a repeated phrase until something new comes to mind.
• Reread your entry afterward. As you do, look for opportunities to gain insight from yourself. You may even write down a few sentences at the end of your entry, recording the things you found compelling or surprising.

During this practice, you may find yourself delving deeply into a single topic, or you might jump around from thought to thought. Both of these outcomes can offer important insight into what (and how) you’re thinking.

Research suggests that even writing for short amounts of time can have lasting anxiety-relieving benefits.

Using Journal Prompts

If freewriting sounds intimidating, using a prompt can give you a concrete place to begin. You can choose to write with a prompt occasionally or each time you journal, and you can even revisit the same prompt, which may bring about some interesting insights into how your thoughts have changed over time.

You can come up with a list of prompts yourself based on the issues you’d like to focus on or problems you’d like to solve. Or, if you’re currently working with a therapist, you can ask them for their ideas. You may even want to pick up a journal with prompts to help.

Keeping a Thought Diary

Keeping a thought diary (or thought record) offers you a way to notice your thought patterns and track how they change over time. Commonly used as part of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this exercise asks you to write down your beliefs and then think critically about them.

To get started, create a document or journal page with five columns:

• Case: In this column, note the current “case” or situation you find yourself in. Explain briefly, like “Starting a new job” or “Had a disagreement with a friend.”
• Feeling: Here, write down the feelings you’re experiencing as a result.
• Thinking: Note what you’re thinking, and do so authentically. As you record more thought diaries, this is where you’ll notice your thinking patterns and see how they change. In the example of a disagreement with a friend, your thinking may be, “They won’t want to talk to me anymore,” or “They dislike me now as a result of our fight.”
• Illusions: This is your opportunity to think critically about your beliefs. Here, you should identify any illogical ideas that are present. Try to take an evidence-based approach; though you may feel anxious about an event, ask yourself if your anxiety is warranted given the facts.
• Reality: In this column, write down a more realistic outcome of your case. If you’re basing your thoughts on what you assume another person is thinking, for instance, what’s a more realistic approach you could take?

You may find that keeping a regular thought diary is a helpful habit, or you may use this method to manage anxiety as needed.