Writing in a journal is a great way to manage your anxiety. There are several positive aspects to journaling that can make coping with your fears easier. First, you can work out your fears on paper. You’ll learn why you might jump to conclusions and which things trigger you. Additionally, you’ll be able to look back at journal entries about anxiety and start to learn more about yourself. That includes specific patterns or traps that you might fall into.

It also includes seeing the growth you’ve made.

But, not everyone is a writer. You might not immediately feel comfortable jotting down your thoughts and feelings.

In those cases, journal prompts can help. When you have a specific idea to write about or a question to answer, it’s easier for the words to flow freely.

With that in mind, let’s look at a few prompts you can use when you want to write down your feelings but you’re not quite sure how without some guidance.

When Else Have I Felt This Way?

If you’ve been dealing with anxiety for any length of time, your feelings of fear are nothing new.  So,  when you start to feel overwhelmed by those worries, pull out your anxiety journal. Ask yourself to think about another time when you’ve felt the way you do now.

What was the situation? What themes are similar to how you feel now?  Pinpointing the reason can help you identify triggers. (Fear of criticism is a common theme, as is feeling a lack of control over a situation or outcome). Once you’re able to hone in on a common theme or pattern, you can focus on what you have done before to cope. How did you manage to overcome those fears?

By writing down those answers, you’re essentially giving yourself a personalized guidebook on your triggers and how to handle them. You might start to see a theme to the things you worry about. Then, instead of trying to solve 100 anxiety triggers, it is actually 1 or 2 anxiety trigger themes that show up 100 times!

It will end up being a great resource for you to look back on. Plus, writing about it during those feelings can make it easier to calm down in the moment.

How Likely is the Fear to Become Reality?

Writing things down will give you an opportunity to rethink your fear. How likely is it that it will actually happen? All fears tend to make us overestimate the likelihood that our feared outcome will actually occur. Journaling will allow you to go through any process you want to come to a conclusion. You can write down multiple scenarios – including what the “worst-case” would be.

That can be helpful since it might make you realize that even the worst possible situation wouldn’t be as bad as you originally thought.

Mapping Out Scenarios

One of the best ways to get started with journaling is to “map out” whatever is causing you to fear.  For example, if you got invited to a party and you struggle with social anxiety, your journal entry might answer questions like:

• What’s the worst thing that could happen?
• Although unpleasant, can I tolerate the discomfort for a greater good?
• Why am I worried about seeing that person (or group of people)?
• Did they cause me some kind of pain or vulnerability?
• Who do I feel comfortable around?
• Why do certain people or situations trigger my fears?

It can be difficult to answer things like that, at first. They might even fuel your fears more. But, as you work through those questions, you can come to the conclusion that your biggest fears aren’t likely to happen.

Even if they do, writing things out ahead of time gives you the opportunity to come up with a “plan”.  How will you react if things do go poorly? Having a plan in place will help you feel more comfortable and less anxious.

If you’re not sure how to get started with journaling, feel free to contact me. Together, we can go through even more prompts and ideas. When you have some suggestions in mind, it’s easier to start spilling your feelings, worries, and thoughts onto paper. Once you’re able to do that, you can enjoy a better grasp on coping with your anxiety every day.