Journal writing is one of the best ways to clear your mind and tame your anxiety. The thought of starting a journal may seem overwhelming to you. You may find that you get excited, buy a journal and some pens, or maybe download a journaling app, only to sit down, ready to start….and not know where to start. Your mind is all the sudden blank, or perhaps it’s racing too fast for you to figure out what to write down. So you stare at the page for a few minutes before finally giving up before you even get started. Here are 18 journal prompts that can help you get started right now!

1. What is something you worried about in the past but never happened?

2. What type of people do you love being around? What do they talk about? What do they do?

3. Can people change?

4. Are you able to think clearly in a stressful situation? Give an example.

5. What is your saddest memory?

6. Do you have difficulty relaxing? Why?

7. What isn’t worth your time?

8. What is your ultimate mission in life?

9. Do you have trouble asking for help? Why?

10. Are you happy?

11. What do you need to forgive yourself for?

12. What can you not imagine your life without?

13. Where do you feel safest?

14. What causes you to get angry or defensive around others? Why?

15. Who in your life isn’t getting the credit they deserve? Why do you think this is?

16. If someone were to reward you for something you did, what would be the best gift?

17. Are your own expectations of yourself helping or hindering you?

18. How do you deal with anger?

Hopefully you can find inspiration on where to start from one of the above journal prompts! The main thing to remember with journaling is not to overthink it. Sometimes journaling will look like an organized page of a story and sometimes it will look like someone chewed up a bunch of words and then spit them out on your paper. Some even find doodling in their journal helps to get the thoughts and emotions out. However you find you do it, the most important thing is that you DO IT!