How to Use Journaling for Stress Relief | Guide & Prompts

Life is a constant exchange of ups and downs and comes with many crossroads that keep us wondering whether we choose the right path.

These changes and confusions can stress us now and then no matter how we try to create a perfect life. Looking back, I can’t help but think how silly I was for thinking I could be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually strong enough to become a stress-proof person. But the truth unfolded to me later on, that stress is part of life, and impossible to be free from it all the time.

It is part of being human to undergo stress during challenging times and changes. And no matter how mature or evolved we think we are, it will never exempt us from getting stressed. On the brighter side, we can manage our response to stress and one way to do it is by writing or journaling our thoughts and feelings that burden our spirits.

Journaling kept me going during the most difficult years of my life. Through journaling, I was also able to shift from being a prisoner of stress to a thriving soul despite ups and downs. I explored journaling as a tool to cope with mental and emotional stress and was able to craft a simple yet effective way of understanding and practicing it. In this article, I will share this journaling modality, and its benefits including prompts for stress relief to help you start.

Benefits of Journaling to Relieve Stress

Stress is our natural response to sudden changes in a situation or environment. That’s why you feel stretched and stressed when engaged in something new or outside your routine. Since it is inevitable to avoid changes in life, big or small, you are susceptible to stress which could get into you and negatively affect your mind, body, and spirit. Journaling is a great tool to relieve and manage stress due to its therapeutic effects. Here are some benefits of journaling for stress relief.

Journaling helps regulate your thoughts and emotions by feeling or releasing them.

When you write by hand, the tension in your body moves and flows and gradually eases your system. Writing thoughts and emotions that trouble you enables you to process them, creating a conduit for the stocked-up energies to soften and find a way out of your psyche. Since journaling is also a personal and private practice, it allows you to express what stresses you out without judging yourself whether it’s appropriate to feel angry, sad, or pressured. All these effects ease the storm inside of you and regulate your body, mind, and spirit.

Journaling makes you feel like you have a forever friend and companion.

One lesson I’ve learned as an adult is that the only friend that you can keep forever is yourself. Our friends cannot be present 24/7 for us because sometimes, even if they want to be there for us, life also happens to them, and need to deal with it. You have to be your own best friend, especially during stressful situations. One way to nurture that friend inside you is to write your thoughts and feelings to separate them from you and experience a different persona helping you.

In journaling, you are free to think and feel everything that stresses you without fearing being judged. It lets you be yourself. When stressed, you do not seek correction or opinion on what could have gone wrong. What you need is to release the tension or stress inside you to get instant relief and journaling can do that for you. As long as you have a pen and paper, you can give life to that friend living inside you.

Journaling helps you identify the triggers or sources of stress.

Have you ever experienced confiding to a friend about the thing that stresses you hoping to get some inspiration that may shift your perspective but ending up more confused and stressed? Even your family and closest friends do not completely know everything about you and might be unable to give you the right help. But when we start writing what’s inside our hearts and minds, the stream of consciousness begins to flow and reveal more about ourselves. You can separate yourself from the situation and see things from a different angle. Creating distance from stress will help you see what triggered you to react in a stressful way. 

A few years ago when I was taking driving lessons to get a license in Qatar, I would get stressed even before I hit the gas. What confused me about this uncomfortable response was I used to be confident when taking my driving lessons back in the Philippines. After journaling about it, more thoughts and ideas came in quickly and I learned that it’s not the driving itself that stresses me but the behavior of the drivers here. After learning this, I took time to sit with myself and reshaped my thinking about nasty drivers on the road. I became more confident and secure with my driving, and as long as I obey traffic rules I have nothing to worry about.

Journaling Instructions and Prompts for Stress Relief

The journaling benefits I mentioned above are just a few but they are enough to give you more insight on how to use journaling to help you in times of stress. In this segment, I will share my simple yet effective journaling technique to reduce (and even manage) stress.

1. You don’t need fancy journaling tools

In many kinds of journaling like gratitude or mindfulness journaling, I always recommend dedicating an exclusive notebook or journal for them to maximize its benefits. In stress relief journaling though, I don’t suggest it because you cannot tell when, where, and how stress might get into you and there will be times that you don’t have your tools near you when you need them. Another reason is to avoid keeping a medium filled with negative energies in your space.

The primary goal of stress relief journaling is to have easy access to releasing unnecessary or negative stored energies inside you to prevent being more stressed.

Use whatever is available when you need to write and release stress. You can write on tissue paper, the back of invoice paper, or the free side of a discarded paper carton. Then it’s up to you whether you want to keep them for a while or feel like you can use them for future self-exploration.

2. Acknowledge that you are stressed

While there are no strict rules in journal writing aside from following your instinct and letting it flow, starting from a blank canvas is sometimes difficult. Journaling for stress relief should be intentional and the best way to do it is to consciously acknowledge that you are stressed and having a difficult time with what’s happening in your life. Make an on-point statement at the beginning of your sentence and declare to the universe that you are stressed because life didn’t go the way you thought it would.

Journaling Prompt: “I am feeling stressed about (your answer to question ‘a’ below) because (your answer to question ‘b’ below).”

1. what unexpected or unfavorable event are you resisting to accept in your life?
2. how do you feel about the stressful situation? what are your thoughts about what happened?

Yes, you can whine on the first part of stress relief journaling. This is the whole point of writing what you feel – to release the negative energy inside you and put it in a safe bin so that no other people would get infected. Acknowledging your stress is also the perfect time to open yourself to the possibility of accepting that life does not always go the way you want it.

3. Tell your story

After writing your opening stress acknowledgment, continue telling your story however you wish. Pour out everything that’s piling up in your head without judging yourself whether it’s right or wrong to feel bad about the situation.

Telling your story on paper allows you to feel what you feel, and see how you think. It’s like putting your perspective outside your head and seeing yourself from a different angle. This process can also reveal subtle but important details that can help you assess the situation better. Writing your story is like digging in the ground, you will only learn more about the nature of the soil and foreign debris in it when you dig out one layer after another.

Journaling Prompts (that you can try):

• what emotions or responses do you feel? know that emotions can get mixed up in an unfavorable event. you can get angry, sad, and frustrated at the same time.
• what makes the situation challenging for you?
• don’t forget: you are free to tell your story on paper

4. Do not look for something (or someone) to blame

You can vent out and narrate your story as long as you can but try to be conscious of where your narration goes. Is it serving you inward or you are just wandering in the writing cosmos looking for someone to blame for the bad things that happen to you?

Blaming others for your stress is a normal response but not a healthy way to deal with it. One of the reasons why you want to journal about your stress is to help you cope and heal by looking inwards. If you focus on blaming people or the universe for putting you in a difficult situation, healing will not happen. You are only resisting to be accepting of reality and won’t be able to let go. Blaming only intensifies your stress instead of making you feel better.

5. End it with a positive resolution or affirmation

The best way to combat stress is to fill yourself with positive energy. Write a positive affirmation or declaration as a close even if you don’t feel uplifted yet. Think of it as if a friend is trying to comfort you. The words you write are powerful, and it is always a good idea to add positive ones to your journal.

Journaling Prompts:

• ‘Even if things didn’t turn out the way how I wanted to, I am hoping for better ones in the future.’

• ‘Stress is part of life and I know things will get better soon.’

• ‘Difficult times like this happen not to destroy me but to teach me. I know that lessons will unfold to me along the way.’

• ‘My situation does not define who I am. I will be okay with the result as long as I give my best.’

• ‘I know that I have no control over other people. I can only control my response to them and I am choosing to be more calm.’

Stress does not define the type of life you have. Sometimes, it only reminds us of our vulnerability and imperfection. It is a vehicle for growth and a deeper understanding of yourself. Always remember that no matter how difficult your situation is, you can be more powerful than that with the help of intentional practices like journaling.

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Note: If you want you embark on an intentional and meaningful journaling practice, join my Write To Heal community for support and guidance. Click here to register (it’s free).