How Journaling Daily Has Helped My Mental Health

To help raise awareness for Mental Health Awareness Week, I’m sharing how journaling has helped my mental health. This is my 6-month review!

Five months ago, my anxiety took a bit of a hit and quite frankly, became the worst it had ever been. It quite literally forced me to embark on a new journey, both figuratively and literally, in order to prioritise my mental health and finally take control of my anxious thoughts.

During those months of highs and lows (which, if I’m honest, was heightened mostly because of my imbalanced hormones) I felt very out of control of my thoughts and ironically, found myself starting to worry about my excessive worrying. While anxiety is something I’ve grown up with, it’s noticeably become worse in my early adult years.

It took me a while to realise I needed help, but once I recognised the fact that I was in a place where I no longer wished to be, I started researching all of the things I could do to help support my mental wellbeing.

I’ve always loved the idea of journaling daily (I think I have a lot of 90’s chic flicks to thank for that one), but sadly it’s something I never really stuck to. After hearing about the many positive and promising benefits journaling can have on mental health, I decided 2021 was the year to finally let my thoughts flow the old-fashioned way… pen to paper.

Why journaling?

As someone who has grown up with anxiety (and also a long spell of OCD during my teenage years – yay me), the need for controlling my day-to-day life is something that brings me a sense of peace & control.

Now, I think journaling can mean a lot of things for people. For many, it’s the idea of writing down a collection of your thoughts from a single day, but for others, it can mean setting daily intentions, creating positive habits, and even reflecting on your day as a whole. Personally, I like to do a bit of everything.

I actually have The Inspired Stories to thank for the start of my journaling journey (not a paid ad – just a big fan). Last Christmas I asked for the most wonderful & fulfilling planner from TIS which encourages you to make the most of each day. It was a beautiful balance of writing down my tasks, reflecting on my weeks, journaling daily intentions & also finishing each day with a positive moment. As a complete newbie to journaling, this was the perfect way for me to begin. It was a simple balance of the ‘to-do’ style, but also with an element of journaling too.

How journaling has helped my mental health

After a month of using my journal/planner, I found that it was already helping me both mentally and physically. On one hand, it was allowing me to express my emotions through daily intentions & positive habits, but on the other hand, it was also encouraging me to stay healthy by keeping me motivated each day and on track. It truly gave me that sense of peace & control I desperately needed.

It’s clear to me now that journaling can have numerous benefits such as regulating emotions, improving clarity, increasing positivity, and most importantly, improving your overall quality of life. Mentally, it’s also helped me during my lowest of days by allowing me to express my thoughts and practice cognitive rescheduling (something I learned from CBT) to help control those anxious thoughts.

Every day, before I power up my laptop to begin work, I reach for my ‘One Day At A Time’ journal and I set myself a positive intention for the day. I then continue to sort my top priorities for the day, create my much-loved and much-needed to-do list (both work & admin life) & share any thoughts and experiences in the notes below. It sounds simple, but that’s the beauty of journaling. It doesn’t have to be pages upon pages, nor does it have to be one set of rules.

As time has gone on and I’ve kept it up, journaling has allowed me to find peace with my mind.

Now, whenever I talk about journaling on my Instagram, I’m often asked how people can incorporate it into their busy schedules. While starting to journal is just like creating a new habit, it really doesn’t require a lot of work. Here are a few methods I’ve found that have helped me stick to journaling…

Make sure it’s a perfect fit

First things first, I think finding the right journal for you is one of the most important things you can do if you want to continue your journaling habit. Think of it as something that makes you come back for more.

Like I said above, I like to do a bit of everything when it comes to journaling; setting intentions, creating habits, to-do lists, sharing my thoughts and experiences, etc. You get the idea. So for me, making sure I had a journal that allowed me to do all of those things was really important.

It’s one of the reasons why I fell in love with The Inspired Stories, actually. Not only is their stationery beautiful, but it’s effective when it comes to motivating you to journal regularly.

Keep your journal close by

Journaling for me is a bit like reading. If I don’t have my book close by, then I’ll forget to read it. The same goes for journaling. I have two notebooks that I use for journaling; one for mindfulness which I do every morning and evening, and one for when I’m sat at my desk during the day. Both notebooks share a different purpose for me and allow me to use my thoughts differently.

My Mindfulness Everyday Journal (PR product) encourages me to journal at the start of my day and also right at the end of my day. I love it because it allows me to be more mindful of my actions, thoughts and emotions and when it comes to my mental health, it truly helps to share. This journal doesn’t take long for me to do at all, but I do make sure it’s sat on my bedside table so I 1) don’t forget to journal and 2) pick up something other than my phone as soon as I wake up.

My Great Things Ahead Weekly Planner however, is the journal I’ve been using recently throughout the day. Not only does it help me to stay organised and manage my day-to-day tasks effectively, but it also helps me to stay positive by setting daily intentions, practicing gratitude and sharing any random thoughts throughout the day.

This planner also allows me to start each week with a round-up of personal to-do’s and work to-do’s, as well as being able to track my weekly habit and exercise routine. It really is my little book of ‘life’.

Although I currently only use two notepads at the moment, I also have to mention the journal that kickstarted my journaling journey: My One Day At A Time Planner. This was/is the perfect planner to start with, in my opinion.

What I loved most about this planner/journal was the day-per-page layout. It allowed me to set goals, keep track of my habits, set daily intentions, note down any tasks (which I do a LOT) and reflect on experiences from the day. I also loved the addition of quotes throughout the book, important dates (see above) and after each week, I could round-up my entire week with a weekly review (my favourite thing to do on a Sunday).

I actually only just finished this 6-month planner, but because I was kindly sent the weekly planner from The Inspired Stories, I thought I would try the weekly planner next to see which one I prefer & work best with. I think this is a great thing to do as you start journaling – trial and error your planners/journals to see which one you love the most!

Treat it like a habit

Just like you wake up, get dressed, brush your teeth and eat breakfast, start treating journaling like another ordinary habit.

I’ve personally made it a habit to journal as soon as I wake up (morning thoughts), before I begin work (to organise my work & set myself an intention), at the end of each workday (to practice gratitude) and just before bed (to reflect on my day). To some, this may sound like a lot of work, but to me, it really isn’t much. Mostly because it’s become so much of a habit, that I rarely notice I do it now.

So if you can, add your new journaling habit onto an existing habit (this makes you more likely to remember), or schedule it at a certain time of day when you know you’ll most likely do it.

Seek inspiration with journal prompts & conversation starters

If you’re not sure how to get started or even what to say, then perhaps take some inspiration from my journaling prompts illustration below.

Besides the question of how to start, this is the second number one question I get asked also “how do I know what to write?”. Well, I don’t. My journal asks me. This is why it’s super important to find a journal right for you!

Being the stationary freak that I am, I like to research my journal heavily before I dedicate the next 6 or 12 months to it, so making sure it’s going to motivate me to journal in the first place is really important.

That said, if you’ve still got a bomb-ass journal, and still find yourself stuck on what to write, then either take inspiration from my illustration above (which you can find more of on my Instagram) or google some journal prompts and conversation starters to get going.

I personally like to stick to positive and uplifting prompts depending on my mood, but also because I find they motivate me to have a good day.

Please note: I originally purchased my first journal from The Inspired Stories and have since received other journals as a PR product with no obligation to post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This is not a paid for ad.