60 Journal Prompts for Self Care When You’re Struggling
Last Updated on November 30, 2023
Whether you’re just starting to dabble in self care or you’re a seasoned pro with many go-to self care activities, journaling is an insanely useful self care tool.
Self care is helpful on any day of the week, but turning to these journal prompts for self care on those tough mental health days when you’re really struggling…that’s going to do wonders for you!
So if you’re feeling anxious, a little down, or just want to vent, these journal prompts for self care will go a long way in easing your mind and bringing you the comfort you’re looking for.
This post is all about journal prompts for self care.
60 Mindful Journal Prompts for Self Care
- What is something you’re holding onto that you really need to release?
- What is one way that you can lighten your load or limit something in your schedule?
- What is one way you can show yourself more empathy and leniency?
- What is a quick self care activity you’d like to add to your morning routine?
- What is a quick self care activity you’d like to add to your night routine?
- Do you feel supported lately? Why or why not?
- What can you do to alleviate the stress you’re feeling right now?
- What is your favorite comfort song and how does it bring you comfort?
- What is a negative coping activity you find yourself turning to and what makes you turn to it?
- What can you replace your negative coping activity with?
- What is one person you can always turn to when you’re struggling? What about them makes them such a trusted person?
- What is a quote, belief, or mindset that keeps you going?
- What are your top five core values?
- Are you living in alignment with your top five core values? Why or why not?
- What would need to change in your life or your attitude to make you feel content right now?
- I feel most at ease when _____.
- I feel the most stressed when _____.
- In what ways are you putting the needs of others before your own?
- What can you do to make sure you fill your own cup before tending to others?
- What are some ways that you’ve grown as a person in the last 5 years and how can you keep up on that path of growth?
- Name one area of your life that needs more attention right now.
- What is something you routinely find yourself stressing about and why does it matter so much to you?
- What would the perfect self care day look like?
- What is the hardest thing you’ve ever gone through and what did you learn from it?
- What qualities do you value most in a friend?
- What qualities do you like about yourself that you value most?
- What is your love language? How has it played a role in your relationships?
- Do you find yourself getting too caught up in the past or the future?
- What can you do to ground yourself more in the present moment?
- Are you good at setting boundaries? Why or why not?
- What have you been ignoring that you need to give more attention to?
- What is one thing you feel like you’re lacking most in life right now?
- How do you maintain balance in your life?
- Is there anything holding you back currently and if so, what?
- What is something you’ve learned about your mental health that you’ve had a hard time coming to terms with?
- What distractions do you always find yourself sucked in by?
- List five of your doubts and insecurities. Then provide evidence against them.
- What are you currently manifesting the most?
- What self care activities provide you with the most benefit?
- How does journaling for self care make you feel?
- What do you feel like you need in place in order to thrive?
- How can you be kinder to yourself in this chapter of your life?
- What does self care truly mean to you?
- What type of self care can make you feel guilty? Think hard about what made you feel that way to begin with.
- Does your work life balance look the way you want it to? If not, what can you change about it?
- Are you gentle to yourself on your “down” days? If not, how can you start showing yourself that gentleness?
- What does your dream life truly look like?
- What self care activity do you have an appreciation for now that you used to not? Why?
- What would be your ideal balance of socialization and time alone to recharge?
- What type of exercise feels good to you? What type of exercise does not?
- What preconceived notions did you have about self care when you first got into it? How did those ideas come to be?
- What is one positive affirmation you can focus on this week?
- How do you feel about the amount of time you spend on social media?
- How does social media ultimately affect your mood and mindset?
- When the urge to mindlessly scroll through social media comes on, what is an activity you can do instead?
- What is one nice thing you can do for yourself today?
- When was the last time you felt burnt out and what led you to feel this way?
- What did you do to manage the burnout and what would you do in the future to prevent burnout?
- How does putting yourself first make you feel? Why does it make you feel this way?
- How can you learn to let go of certain expectations in your life?
Psst…make self care quick and easy by downloading my (free!) printable daily self care check in! Grab it below and start incorporating a few minutes of morning + night journal prompts into your routine with ease!
Is Journaling Self Care?
Absolutely! Journaling is a fantastic self care activity because it assists with emotion regulation, clearing your mind, and organizing your thoughts.
When you feel overwhelmed, journaling gets the thoughts out of your mind and onto paper. This is great for those days when you’re extra anxious and it feels like your brain is running a mile a minute. It allows the chance to process your emotions as well as carve out some time to dedicate to yourself during the day.
Self care activities like journaling are essential for managing your emotions and checking in with yourself. Self care can be defined as pretty much any activity that makes you feel good, healthy, and balanced. I know that for myself, using journal prompts for self care is a great way to manage my mental health symptoms and bring myself peace and comfort.
How Does Journaling for Self Care Work?
Journaling for self care works by allowing the opportunity to explore your thoughts and get at the root of what may be bothering you at any given moment. The journal prompts for self care in this post are a great place to start!
To make your journaling practice effective, the most important thing is that you give yourself permission to be open and honest. Don’t worry about how organized or put together your writing is, it’s simply about recording your thoughts as they come to you without any judgment.
Letting the thoughts flow, as opposed to carefully analyzing your words before writing them down, will allow you to better observe what is truly on your mind. In turn, this will help you see your thoughts and feelings for what they are. Oftentimes, you can uncover something you didn’t realize was present in your head space by taking this approach.
What is a Self Care Journal?
A self care journal is a type of journal you dedicate toward bettering your mental health and emotional well-being.
The value of a self care journal is the opportunity to reflect, increase your self-awareness, identify your needs, and work through tough emotions. By keeping a self care journal, you’re giving yourself a go-to coping skill for those tough mental health days.
You can use a self care journal in the form of a blank notebook or even a guided journal with prompts specific to self care and mental health.
I actually offer a printable mental health journal specifically for this purpose, with journal prompts and activities conveniently bundled just for you and your self care practice. It’s jam-packed with 33 pages for understanding your emotions, overcoming unhelpful behaviors, and reframing negative thoughts. A super useful tool to add to your self care routine!
Benefits of Journaling for Self Care
The concept of self care in general and journaling in general are both powerful for improving your mindset. So you can imagine that using them together results in a pretty effective method for staying on top of your well-being.
Self care is great, but journaling will allow you to get far more precise in your self care habits and understanding of what you need to do to take care of yourself. Using journal prompts for self care is a fantastic first-step in identifying your needs.
Say, for example, you just had a stressful day at work and you turn to your journal to work through what you’re feeling.
During this journal session, you realize that the reason why you and your boss don’t get along isn’t necessarily because of what you’re doing but because of a character trait your boss possesses. Now, you can find ways to work with them (with that knowledge in mind) in an effort to make your relationship as amicable as possible.
If instead of journaling you decided to read a book for 30 minutes, you wouldn’t have been able to discover and address the problems you’re facing. Leisurely activities such as reading fiction are definitely useful self care activities, but they serve a different purpose than something like journaling where you’re getting at the root of the problem.
Sometimes you need to destress and take your mind off things by doing something like reading and other times you need to practice self care in the form of analyzing and understanding your problems.
How Using Journal Prompts for Self Care Can Help You
By now, you probably get the basic idea of how using journal prompts for self care can improve your mental health. But here’s a few specific ways it can do so:
- Lets you process and regulate your emotions
- Helps you identify problems
- Allows you to brainstorm solutions for problems
- Gives you the chance to organize your thoughts
- Assists in overall stress management
- Decreases stress and anxiety
- Improves mindfulness
This post was all about journal prompts for self care.
Getting into the groove of a good self care practice can be a bit of a challenge at first. But turning to guided journal prompts for self care like the ones in this post can make it so much easier! When you feel like you have no idea what to write about, referring to a few journal prompts from this list can take away some of that hurdle.
Give these journal prompts for self care a try and pay attention to how you feel before and after writing. If you feel a release after your journal session, this is a great sign that journaling for self care is helpful for you!
Take care.
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LIKE THESE JOURNAL PROMPTS FOR SELF CARE? PIN THEM FOR LATER!
