I am a very anxious person. As someone with a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), my head is constantly swirling with worries about anything and everything—from assignments to my future—and I’m not alone. A Canadian survey found that in 2021, one in four Canadians aged 18 and over experienced symptoms of anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite not feeling as alone after hearing these statistics, I decided to embark on a quest to find ways to overcome my anxiety. In doing so, I discovered journaling.
One 2018 study found that journaling can help lessen anxiety and depression, increase well-being, and decrease distressing thoughts. According to an article by Elizabeth Scott, journaling can also help challenge anxious thoughts and gain insight into yourself.
So to test it out, I journaled for 10 minutes every day over the timespan of 30 days. Here’s how it went down.
Week 1
When I first began journaling, I thought I would have difficulty finding things to write about, but it ended up feeling like a catharsis. I started by using the freewriting technique, where you write without stopping and without censorship for a certain amount of time. I set my timer for 10 minutes and wrote. I found that when I started writing, I couldn’t stop. It felt like a huge relief to write about my thoughts and feelings without worrying about how well I was writing or if my spelling and punctuation was correct.
However, by the end of the week, I struggled to remember to write every day and resorted to setting an alarm to remind myself. At some points, like on the weekend, I felt like I was forcing myself to do it when I really didn’t feel like it.
Week 2
Week two of journaling was much easier than week one. I started getting into the habit of journaling before bed, and I began enjoying it. I found myself motivated to journal every day and write for longer than 10 minutes. Looking back on my passages from week one, I could pinpoint and challenge some of my anxious thoughts. For example, in one passage, I wrote about being overwhelmed with assignments and feeling like I would fail everything.
Reflecting on that thought this week, I was able to take that feeling and try to adjust my attitude so that instead of focusing on failing, I told myself that although I feel overwhelmed right now, I’ll get everything done. I didn’t see a huge difference in my anxiety, but reflecting on my thoughts and feelings did help me cope with anxious thoughts in the moment.
Week 3
I’ll be honest: This week I skipped a few days. The week started strong, but as my assignments at school increased, my desire to journal decreased. I felt like I didn’t have the time or the energy to do it, and the passages I did do, I just slogged through to get it over with.
So I decided to switch gears. Instead of freewriting my thoughts, I looked online and found some prompts to re-inspire me. I found new topics, like “What three ordinary things give you the most joy?” These allowed me to reflect on myself more deeply than simply writing about my day.
Week 4
With writing prompts in hand, I approached the final week with a renewed sense of motivation. Instead of writing for the usual 10 minutes, I decided to write for 5 minutes to take some of the pressure off.
With this new method, I looked forward to journaling daily and finished the week strong.
Final Thoughts
So, will I continue journaling? Yes, but I would do it differently. I think journaling can offer an important therapeutic outlet and a place to look back on your thoughts. At first, journaling felt purgative, and I found having an uncensored journal was a safe space for me to express my thoughts. As the 30 days went on, I sometimes felt like I was forcing myself to do it. However, I enjoyed it more in the last week when I cut down the writing time and used prompts to guide me.
I’ll definitely be journaling in the future, and looking back at previous passages can give you insight into your personal growth and feelings. However, next time, I wouldn’t try forcing myself to journal every day or limit myself to freewriting. I found it didn’t particularly impact how much anxiety I had daily, but I could look back at passages to reflect on what makes me anxious and why. Perhaps over a longer period of time, it would help lessen my anxiety.
I think journaling will be different for everyone; you don’t actually need to sit down and write for a long time to journal. There are plenty of journaling apps, for example, that can offer the space to write down feelings in a convenient digital format, or you can use prompts to get you started. But I think journaling is definitely worth giving a shot. You might just find a new tool to help you deal with stress and anxiety.