WHAT IS JOURNALINGPut simply. It’s keeping a diary. Writing a record of your thoughts, feelings, actions, expectations, hopes, dreams and ambitions. It can be logged daily, weekly, routinely or sporadically. There are no rules to follow and no one has to read it. It’s the art of documenting your consciousness to exercise your emotions.

EXPLAINING JOURNALINGJournaling can be done on paper or digitally, there are studies which suggest pen and paper has a better effect on your brain, but at the end of the day, just doing it is a massive positivity. Journaling can be many things:

• It can be descriptive of your activities, thoughts and feelings

• It can be explorative on issues and personal observations

• It can allow you to start looking at yourself, your direction and your life, if you want to

Journaling can take 5 minutes or an hour, it depends on what thoughts you have at the time. You don’t have to do it if you don’t have the time, but it’s good to return to when you can. Just be honest with yourself and you’ll be fine.

BENEFITS OF JOURNALINGJournaling can have a huge positive impact on your mental health and general wellbeing. It can be a way to ground you after a long day or a way to think about the day ahead of you and what you want to get out of it. Journaling allows you to get out thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories. The act of writing them down can be extremely cathartic. Journaling can, if you choose so, be a way in which you can talk to yourself and try to break down and tackle any existing thoughts and feelings. However, journaling does not need to have a negative tone to it, in fact journaling often leads to more positive writing and thoughts.

HABITS TO ROUTINESMaking something a habit, by doing it consistently (frequency, time and place) can help add something into your routine. Routines by themselves help give structure and can help give purpose. So, try, even if you don’t always feel like it, to do just a little bit, to make this into a habit, then into a healthy routine.

JournalingINTRODUCTION TO

HOW DO YOU FEEL?

POSITIVE

HAPPY

HOPEFUL

STRESSED

NERVOUS

TENSE

ANXIOUS

DETERMINED

INSECURE

ANNOYED

SAFE

BORED

TIRED

HURT

EAGER

ANGRY

EXCITED

IRRITATED

NEGATIVE

RESTLESS

GRATEFUL

UNHAPPY

FRUSTRATED

FURIOUS

CALM

STRONG

NEUTRAL

REGRETFUL

CONFIDENT

PROUD

RELIEVED GLAD

SCARED DISAPPOINTED

TRAPPED LONELY

ALIVE ENERGETIC

GUILTY WORRIED

BITTER CONTENT

SHOCKED LOW

SAD

UNSURE

INSPIRED

OVERWHELMED

CONFUSED

SURPRISED

HIGHLIGHT WORDS THAT HELP TO DESCRIBE YOUR FEELINGS + EMPTY BOXES TO ADD YOUR OWN

ANY THOUGHTS?

INTENTIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS THINGS YOU’RE GRATEFUL FOR FORWARD THINKING IS KEY PEOPLE, THINGS AND MEMORIES

1 1

2 2

3 3

YOUR HAPPY HOUR

DATE:

WHAT POSITIVE THING WILL YOU DO FOR YOUR OWN WELLBEING TODAY

Journal

WHAT ARE YOUR

GOALS?

WHAT DOES HOME MEAN

TO YOU?

DISCUSS & SCORE TOPICS

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?

DESCRIBE YOUR DAY

DO YOU LOVE WHAT

YOU DO?

WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL

FOR?

WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS?

RELATIONSHIP MAP

What would you like to get from writing a journal?What other goals are you working towards?

Draw three circles around each other - small, medium and a big one. Put down the important people with the most important close to the centre.What do these people mean to you?

What makes your home feel like home? What other homes have you had?

Friends, family, physical health, mental health, money, career, relationships, fun, adventure, work, creative output.

List everything, good or bad - write it all down.

Timestamp each activity and describe how it made you feel and why you did it.

FUN TIMESSTRENGTHS

VS WEAKNESSES

WHAT’S ON YOUR BUCKET

LIST?

When do you remember having the most fun? Describe where and who you were with - why does it stick in your memory?

List your greatest strengths and biggest weaknesses. What three weaknesses could you turn to new strengths? How could you achieve this?

What are 25+ things you want to do in the future?

Is there anything you would change about your education pathway?

Not everything is bad, and you know it.

Think of your role models and how they influenced you. What made them a role model?

JOURNAL INSPIRATION USE THESE IF YOU’RE UNSURE OF WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT OR NOT GETTING MUCH OUT OF JOURNALING.

REFLECT ON YOUR

RELATIONSHIPS

HOW DOES CRYING

MAKE YOU FEEL?

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

LET IT GO

THE STRESS BUCKET

WHAT’S ON YOUR FORGET

IT LIST?

LIVE YOUR DREAMS

WHAT MAKES YOU

ANGRY?

JUST SAY NO

WHO WOULD YOU WRITE A LETTER TO?

STOP PUTTING THIS OFF

WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY?

Reflect on the relationships you’ve had in your life. How have they had an impact on you? What have you learnt from each one?

What activities do you love doing, but rarely get the opportunity to do? How could you do this more often?

Think about the last time you shed a tear. What was it over? What’s your relationship with crying? When do you feel it’s acceptable to cry?

How does this make you feel? How do you manage this fear? How can you confront this fear?

Draw a bucket with a tap at the bottom. List everything that’s making you feel stressed. By the tap list everything that helps you relieve your stress and how you could react more positively to stress.

Write down all the things in your life that you think are important but aren’t. What things do you spend time on just because you think you ‘should’?

How would you spend your time if you had complete freedom? What have you always dreamed of doing? Remember, you write your own story.

What happened the last time you got angry? What made you angry? How did you feel before, during and after? How do you deal with anger?

Who and what do you find hard to say no to? Why is this? How does saying no, make you feel? What would happen if you say no?

Write a letter to someone, past or present. What do you want to tell them? Is there something you wish you could say but are too afraid?

What’s the one thing you’re always putting off? What’s stopping you from doing it? What needs to be done to achieve it? How will you do it?

Who would you like to forgive? What would you like to say to them if you had a chance? How does holding a grudge against someone make you feel?

USE THESE IF YOU’RE UNSURE OF WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT OR NOT GETTING MUCH OUT OF JOURNALING.JOURNAL INSPIRATION