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Writing a journal
Journalling and tracking your mood can be a great way to express yourself. Try our ideas to help you get started.
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Why keep a journal?
There are lots of reasons keeping a journal can help with how you’re feeling. Keeping a journal can help you to:
- Express how you’re feeling
Writing things down regularly can help you to let difficult feelings out, especially when it feels like you’re bottling them up. Knowing you can write about things later can help make it easier to cope in the moment. - Spot changes or triggers
Writing about how you’re feeling and what’s happening can help you to stop patterns and whether particular situations make you feel a better or worse. - Change how you see things
Taking time to keep a gratitude journal or writing about things in new ways can change how you see your situation. Sometimes it can also make it easier to think about solutions of ways to change things. - Build your creativity
Writing about things in new ways and practising different ideas is a great way to boost your writing and creativity in other parts of your life.
Ideas to start journalling
Create a gratitude journal
Take a few minutes each day to notice small things you’re grateful for.
Write about your day
Take a few minutes to write about the big and small things that have happened today. Try to think about how each thing made you feel.
Set a daily question
Set yourself a daily question and try to answer it. You could come up with some questions with an adult you trust.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- What time of day to you feel happiest and why?
- When was the last time you felt stressed?
- If you had a magic wand, what would you change and why?
- What are five ways you could be kinder to yourself?
- What three things are you proud of? It could be anything
- What are three things you’re grateful for?
- What was the most important thing you did today?
Set healthy goals
Set goals for yourself and keep track of how they’re going. You could also share your goals with an adult you trust.
Make sure any goals you set are SMART, that means they are:
- Specific
Make sure it’s easy to know what you’re working for. For example, instead of saying “I want to work more”, you could say, “I want to do 30 minutes more homework per day” - Measurable
This means you can easily see whether you’re achieving your goal or not. For example, you could measure a goal by how long you’re doing it. - Achievable
Not all goals are achievable. Setting yourself a goal to win a gold medal at the next Olympics might be too much, but joining a local sports team wouldn’t. - Relevant
Set goals that fit what you want to achieve, not what you think you should be doing. - Timed
Set yourself a time limit on when you’ll do things by. Remember to be realistic with this.
Remember, goals can change over time. Changing a goal doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong, but it does mean you can change it to make sure it fits you.
Doodle or draw
Drawing daily can help to build your skills and help build your creativity. Art is also a great way to express yourself and relieve stress.
Unsent letters
Take time to write letters to people you care about. You don’t have to send them, but writing to people about how you’re feeling can really help.
It can be a way of saying things to people that you don’t feel able to, or to feel connected to people who aren’t in your life.
breathe
in
breathe out
Tips to get started
There’s no right or wrong way to journal. If you’re struggling, these tips can help:
- There’s no right way to do it
Write when you want to and as often as you want to. - Skill doesn’t matter
Journalling isn’t about how good of a writer you think you are. Write whatever’s on your mind or try one of our ideas above. - Make time for it
Set an alarm for when you want to journal, or make space on your bed, desk, or a table to write. - Share it if you want
Your journal could be just for you, but it’s also okay to share it with someone you trust. - Ask for help
Talk to an adult you trust if you’re struggling or you want ideas.
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