5 Ways Journaling Benefits Your Mental Health
From five-minute morning journals to detailed daily recounts, you’ve heard about journaling more times than you can count.
Journaling has become a trending topic in the self-care world – but is it worth your time? And how do you even get started?
Here at KMA Therapy, we know you want to understand the benefits of something before you invest your energy into it. For over 14 years, we’ve helped our clients learn about the different mental health and wellness tools available in order to help them live their best lives.
After reading this article, you’ll know five ways journaling can benefit your wellness, how to get started, and twelve journal prompts you can try today.
5 Benefits of Journaling for Mental Health and Wellness
Here are five ways that journaling can help you boost your mental health and wellness:
1. Reducing Your Stress
Journaling helps reduce your stress by fully expressing your stress in a creative, healthy way. When you’re dealing with a lot of stress, it can be easy to try and ignore it or push it away – but this will only make it worse over time. Journaling can help you release it.
2. Boosting Your Physical Health
A study in 2018 found that journaling benefits your physical health alongside your emotional health. This study found that journaling may lower your blood pressure and reduce stress-related doctor visits.
3. Acknowledging Your Emotions
One of the main focuses of talk therapy is to help you recognize, understand, and process your emotions. Journaling has many of the same benefits. It’s a way to organize stressful events in your mind and stop them from becoming overwhelming.
4. Managing Mental Health Conditions
Journaling is great to help you relax, but it can also have even more profound impacts. Regular journaling is often used as part of an effective treatment plan for anxiety, depression, and stress.
5. Exploring Your Sense of Self and Self-Discovery
Getting grounded in who you are and what you want can help you live more meaningfully. Journaling is a great way to get back in touch with your sense of purpose and rediscover what you truly want out of life.
How Do I Start Journaling?
There’s no right or wrong way to journal – it’s as simple as grabbing a notebook and pen, and writing down whatever crosses your mind.
Some people choose to journal on blank pages that allow them room to draw. Some people like to write freely about whatever topic they choose. Some people prefer structured questions to guide them.
If you aren’t quite sure where to begin, here are 12 journal prompts to get you started.
Mental Health Journal Prompts
Here are journal prompts to help explore feelings related to anxiety, depression, and self-discovery.
Journal Prompts for Anxiety
- How does anxiety feel in your body?
- Who is someone you trust completely?
- What activities help soothe your anxiety?
- What would you say to a friend who told you they were feeling anxious?
Journal Prompts for Depression
- What are three good things that happened today?
- What emotions are the hardest for you to deal with?
- What is something that you look forward to every day?
- Describe your ideal self, and list 3 ways you can get closer to them.
Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery
- What is one quality you admire in yourself?
- What values are the most important in your life?
- What parts of your life have surprised you the most?
- Who leads a life you’d like to live? What do you admire about them?
Next Steps to Support Your Mental Wellness
After reading this article, you know five benefits of journaling and several prompts to help you get started.
Here at KMA Therapy, we know that as much as you can improve your own mental health, sometimes you need some extra support.
Booking an appointment with a therapist can help you navigate anxiety and depression, and provide a space for self-discovery.
If you have any questions about the therapy process, our caring team has the answers.
If you’re not yet ready to book an appointment, check out these resources to keep learning:
