Journaling for Anxiety (A complete guide)
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Journaling has a lot of benefits. One way a diary can alleviate tension is by helping you work through negative thoughts. Uncontrolled, anxiety can lead to tension and rumination.
Some of the origins of your anxiety can be reduced with a bit of emphasis. Journaling can be an effective tool for examining and moving ideas from nervous and ruminative to motivated and action-oriented.
In this blog. We will discuss journaling for anxiety
Journaling for Anxiety
Here are some easy, super-effective diary practices that you can use as an immediate balm to bring you back to calmness, clarity, and power.
1. Embrace Your Anxious Thoughts
One of the instincts that many of us have when we face nervous thoughts is to seek to suppress them — to drive them away, to think about something else.
Sadly, this just suppresses our pain, which usually makes it emerge worse later on.
So, what can you do with it? There is a much better option: according to study, writing down your problems will make them go away — almost as though you were moving them out of your mind and into the paper.
Write after you wake up, grab your diary, and place all the bad thoughts on the paper.
You’ll instantly feel lighter, happier, and more confident.
2. Give Your Brain a Rest
You are well aware of how you feel like lying in bed for hours when you can’t sleep because you’re thinking about your issues, about your obligations, about the future.
Another strategy that can be immensely helpful to alleviate this burden is to write down your activities for the next day before you go to bed.
This way, you ‘re looking to assist your mind ease, let it know that it’s all taken care of, and you’re not going to forget what you have to do. If this isn’t enough, you can go much further.
Just before sleep, sit down with your diary and define what’s going to look like the next day.
Not only can this exercise release the brain from the stress to remember and prepare, but it can also be incredibly calming!
3. Overcome Your Own Expectations
Okay, you might feel put off just by thinking about preparing tasks and making to-do lists — they always end up causing more pressure when you don’t do it!
You can change this, though, by changing your perception that you are not successful.
According to brain plasticity research, we have the ability to rewire our neurons, and thus alter the way we think and act.
Then, make sure you complete certain things.
It doesn’t matter if they seem small: what’s important is that you re-learn the feeling of achievement and pride that pushes your anxiety away.
Progressively, efficiency will become a delight, and anxiety will no longer be debilitating.
4. Create an “Everything Spread”
Anything that brings a feeling of worries to many individuals is when you have a lot of great ideas in your head, but you don’t know how to arrange them: where to take care of it so that you can find it later, what to do with it, etc.
An amazingly easy solution for you, that takes no extra thought, is to just create a weekly “All Spread” in your journal.
Then, all week long, just take note of all the important things:
- Healthy suggestions to make later
- Performances
- Lessons learned to learn
- That wonderful book that someone mentioned to you
Then, set aside a day and a time every week to go back to your “All Spread” and choose what to do with that stuff (a relaxed Sunday morning with a cup of tea can be a nice idea!)
5. Indulge in a happiness overdose
It has been proven that the feeling of gratitude activates the hormones of pleasure in our brains.
It’s raising our mood. This makes us feel less nervous about it.
Just after throwing your concerns on the paper in the morning, you should cheer yourself up by making a note of what you’re thankful for.
Let yourself be soaked in it — if you’re not fully in it, it won’t work.
6. Use Words as Your Fuel
Just as our body requires food to function, so our soul needs to be nurtured.
The great way we can do that is with our words: they can have an extremely powerful impact on the way we think and feel.
The explanation that most people struggle to make constructive comments is that they just write it down and repeat it a few times, so they don’t stick to it.
One way to fully commit to it is to take 5 minutes to feel those words take over your body and soul.
Close your eyes now. Repeat the inside of your head. They ‘re not the correct words for you, and they don’t make you feel anything?
Then write a few different words, before you find the ones that work. Talk to yourself about your true power.
7. Build Your Own Sacred Shrine of Peacefulness
Our surroundings shape the way we feel. When you surround yourself with low-level, negative stuff and people, you ‘re going to feel nervous.
But if you surround yourself with calmness and harmony, you will feel calm and peaceful.
Your journal maybe your world. Create a “Peaceful Spread”—a space in your journal full of positivity that you can visit whenever you feel anxious. You can include:
- Uplifting quotes
- Images of your satisfied self
- Pictures of places or people that inspire you
- Your Board of Vision
- Your goals
- Your contributions
- Gorgeous sketches
There are endless possibilities. Make it yours, man. Everything that counts is that, once you open up, you feel good about it.
It feels sweet. It feels soothing — it feels like you’re true to yourself.
7 Types of Journaling For Anxiety Helping You Feel Calm
The following are some ideas for journaling for anxiety that would help you feel calmed and relieved:
- Assigns your empathic needs
- Free Confessional Writing
- List of Micro Target
- Write a message that you’re not sending
- Fast writing
- Reflection of pictures
- Flow of Word
Recommended Books
The following is a list of some good books on journaling and anxiety guides. These books are a great source of increasing knowledge.
Just click the book you wish to study and you will be redirected to the page form where you can access it.
- Dot Journaling―A Practical Guide: How to Start and Keep the Planner, To-Do List, and Diary That’ll Actually Help You Get Your Life Together by Rachel Wilkerson Miller | Jul 31, 2017
- Light Up Your Soul: Healing from Anxiety and Depression Through Art by Alex K | Apr 26, 2019
- 90 Seconds to a Life You Love: How to Master Your Difficult Feelings to Cultivate Lasting Confidence, Resilience, and Authenticity by Joan I. Rosenberg Ph.D. | Feb 12, 2019
- Calm the F**k Down Journal: Practical ways to manage anxiety and take control of your life by Sarah Knight | Oct 31, 2019
- Let It Out: A Journey Through Journaling by Katie Dalebout | Apr 5, 2016
Why does journaling help anxiety?
Another way you can alleviate tension by journalizing is by helping you move with your nervous feelings.
That is because when left untreated, feelings of fear will manifest in agitation and rumination, but some of the origins of the distress can be reduced by a little concentrated review.
What is the anxiety disorder Journal?
Journal of Anxiety Disorders is an interdisciplinary publication presenting clinical articles addressing all facets of anxiety disorders across all age ranges (children, teenagers, adults, and geriatrics).
How do I keep track of anxiety?
To keep track of your anxiety, in a diary, journal, spiral pad, or just simple blank file, mood and anxiety charting might well be conducted.
Calendars make perfect maps too, encouraging you to include only a few terms for each day.
If writing appears to you to be boring, you might want to try talking through a tape recorder or other recording tool.
How do you write a worry journal?
When you want to get the best out of your anxiety journal, follow the following tips:
- Write this down-literally
- Take things from being merely a session of venting
- Make no worries about the size
- Place some time between sleeping and studying
- Recognize you possess the strength
Is journaling good for depression?
Working on a Journal helps cure depression. Many specialists on behavioral wellbeing encourage journaling, as it will boost the attitude and relieve depressive symptoms.
Studies accept that and say that journaling is helpful to your emotional wellbeing. It can also change the way counseling operates.
How do psychiatrists treat anxiety?
The most effective form of psychotherapy for anxiety disorders is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
Generally a short-term treatment, CBT aims to teach you specific skills to improve your symptoms and gradually return to the anxiety-related activities you have avoided.
This blog explained in detail journaling of anxiety, topics that can be journalized to reduce anxiety and effectiveness of journaling for anxiety.
If you have any questions or queries regarding this blog, let us know through your comments in the comments section. We will be glad to assist you.
References
Journaling for Anxiety Relief and Stress – Verywell Mind
7 Ways You Can Use Your Journal to Instantly Soothe Anxiety
7 Types Of Journaling For Anxiety That Will Help You Feel Calm
Amazon.com
Unsplash.com
Take Control of Your Anxiety Today: Personalized Counseling with BetterHelp
