mental wellbeing

If you do not have access to a notebook, and you are comfortable typing on your phone, then you generally can journal on your phone, though, it is recommended to do it in an actual notebook.

One of the main reasons against journaling on phones is due to distractions. It is incredibly easy to get distracted with things related to our phones. Even if we put it in airplane mode and turn off all notifications, the fact that we are actively holding and using our phones for something is a doorway to distractions that can take you away from journaling.

Not to mention that typing for a while on a phone can get very frustrating for many people. Constantly having to erase what was written because you accidentally touched the wrong letter is also distracting, demotivating, and a cause of major frustration. It can just take you away from your train of thought and cause you to lose focus.

One of the greatest benefits of writing in an actual journal is the effect it has on the speed we think. Our minds are constantly racing from thought to thought, not really giving us enough time to actually focus on a single thought long enough to actually understand it well enough. Journaling, in the pen and paper form, causes us to slow our minds down in order to write down our thoughts, allowing us the time to process them, explore them, and understand them better.

Nothing can replace professional help. Even when it comes to journaling, they can have great exercises, tips, and ways of helping you reduce your anxiety, so that will always be my top advice. So if you can, I would suggest speaking to someone with authority, which I do not have, I only have my own personal experience to share.

Here I will write just what has helped me in the past overcome some of my anxiety, hoping this can help you too.

Writing about your anxiety may not always be an easy task, but if it is something that you are willing to try, it can actually have great positive effects.

If you are not sure where to begin when writing about your anxiety, try first take a few moments to write about what you are currently feeling, and what is currently going on in your mind.
This is just to get you into the mindset of writing, to allow your mind to ease up a little bit before getting into the heavier stuff.

After that, start writing down the feelings you have that you call anxiety. Try to write what it causes you to actually feel, and try to start identifying the cause or origin of these feelings.

Now, try to actually think about the matter that is causing you anxiety. Write it down however it comes to you. Don't try to write it from the beginning, or from the end, just write what comes to your mind, and from there, start exploring.

Try to explore why you feel anxiety about what ever it is that is causing it. If you don't know what is causing it, that is fine, just write down what you think it is. Explore different thoughts about it, where it came from, what you fear could happen, and what ever else comes to your mind.

It is important though to not linger on the anxiety and to not keep writing the same things down. This could cause you to just stay in the cycle of continually thinking about negative things that are causing the anxiety. Try to write things down with the intention of letting them go and moving on. Allowing the negative thoughts, worries, and fears to pass. Don't try and fight them either, just let them come in to your mind, and out on to the paper.

Again, I am not a professional, this is just what I have done in the past to help me overcome anxiety.

Journaling can be a very freeing exercise, as it allows you to express what is in your mind, letting it all out, while better understanding it.

Journaling allows you to slow your mind down and to better understand the thoughts that you are writing down. This can help deal with events that have occurred throughout your day, and can help reduce stress that could have built up from those events.

Many people have trouble falling asleep and getting a good night's sleep due to too much stress. It prevents them from sleeping by keeping their minds racing through thoughts and through the events that may have caused the stress. Even when they fall asleep, their sleep quality may be very low, they may even be having dreams about the matters that are causing the stress.

Since journaling can help reduce this stress, this could be a great activity to perform before bed, as it can help calm your mind down before getting into bed.