11 Anxiety Journal Prompts

1. What is the biggest worry on your mind right now? Write it out in detail.

As a disabled person who is declining in health as time goes on, my deepest fear is that I will become to disabled to stay on my own. I’ve seen what it’s like in a care home, and even in a nice one, it’s my idea of hell of earth. To not have the ability to do things at the times I want and eat the food I want. To have to be taken care of and not be able to fend for myself anymore. The total loss of freedom and the idea of not even being able to go for a poop on my own, is horrifying to an extreme. I’d seriously rather die than go into a care home. It’s not life, its only existence, and that is not of value to me.

2. Describe a recent situation that made you feel extremely anxious.

This is a thing that almost never happens to me. I don’t tend to have triggers, instead, I tend to just have a panic attack from hell at random, and like today, they happen many times a day. But there have been times when I got a panic attack from being in a room full of people I don’t know. I was alone in a restaurant at one time as the person that drove me had to go somewhere else before she came back. Well, all those people I don’t know around me (it was half full of people) triggered the hell out of me. Full on panic attach and I wanted to run out the door and hide somewhere. It was bad enough that I could not breathe right. I almost passed out. Fortunately, the server saw what was happening and reminded me to breathe deep and slow. This does help to an extent.

3. Write a letter to your anxiety as if it were a person, expressing your feelings towards it. Write a letter to your anxiety as if it were a person, expressing your feelings towards it.

Dead Anxiety, you are the worst part of my life. The pain I feel constantly from Fibromyalgia is way more tolerable than you are. You can get used to being in pain, you cannot get used to anxiety. You make me feel like I’m going to die, and you make me dizzy as hell and unsafe because I might fall because of you. If I fall, I’m going to be hurt and probably need to go to the ER, and I don’t want that to happen. If I could erase you from existence, I would. I deeply want you to not exist. You make people’s lives a living hell. For some people, they can’t understand what is happening to them – this would be so much worse, so I feel lucky that I know what is happening.

4. What are three things you are grateful for today, despite feeling anxious?

I am grateful for my friends who lift me up from the often-terrible existence I live in. They make me happy and make me laugh, and I need that. I am grateful for Pusheen the Cat. She is not a real cat but pretending to take care of her grounds me and give me reason to go about my day at times. She helps calm when I’m stressed, just holding her help with Anxiety a lot. Finally, I’m grateful for music, as it lifts me up and takes me to a different world. It is relaxing, exhilarating and drives me to continue going.

5. When was the last time you felt a sense of relief from your anxiety? Describe the experience.

A week ago, more of less, I had no anxiety at all for the entire time I was awake. It is something that doesn’t often happen. Most days I have anxiety to some extent or another. It felt amazing and was a great break for me.

6. What is something you wish you could say out loud but feel too afraid to?

To be honest, I have never felt that I can’t say something, even if it is not safe for work, or possibly inappropriate to say at the time, it will come out of my mouth.

7. List all the things that are currently causing you stress. How do they impact you?

The lack of money is always a stressful factor for me. It causes me to not be able to do things I would enjoy doing. It is a terrible feeling that at the drop of a hat, I could need something badly and not be able to get it – it’s happened several times. Health is giving me stress right now as well. My body is getting weaker as I age and it’s getting to be hard to get in my friends’ car even. It limits me greatly in what I can do. Right now, my blood pressure is way too low, and I am in danger of falling on the floor and possibly hitting my head. Being I’m on blood thinners, hitting my head can kill me in short order.

8. Write about a time when you felt overwhelmed but managed to get through it.

Many years ago, I had to talk to a group and there was not one person I knew there at the time to comfort me with their presence. I had to use all my strength to manage it. I was dizzy as hell, and I had to force myself to stand there and talk to those people. I had to dig deep to get past the fear.

9. How do you feel after you've had a good cry? Describe the physical and emotional sensations.

It’s just needed at times. It’s an emotional release that gets all the pain, anger and fear. It’s like a weight is lifted off my chest and it makes me so relaxed after.

10. What are some healthy ways you can release your emotions when you're feeling overwhelmed?

Two words, “heavy metal.” For some reason, listening to angry music or violent music relaxes the hell out of me. The sadness and fear in me are drained away. It also gives me energy for some reason.

11. What would you scream out loud if no one could hear you?

“Why are so many people so fucking stupid these days?” Hell, there is a lot of things I’d like to yell out loud right now with how society has shifted into a self-centered bunch of twats. So many times, I see someone post something on social media, and I literally say out loud, “how dumb can you be to think this is real or a good idea.”