25 Journal Prompts For Mental Health Awareness Month
Stephanie Nieves is a writer, editor, teacher, and personal empowerment enthusiast from Spanish Harlem in NYC. She studied writing and rhetoric in college, then went on to teach ELA and writing to middle and elementary school students. Her work has been featured in Business Insider, Thought Catalog, FGRLS Club, Grown Magazine, and a number of literary magazines. When she's not writing, you can catch her watching reruns of RuPaul's Drag Race or ordering an overpriced dirty chai latte at Starbucks. You can connect with her on wordchefsteph.com.
When we’re younger, we’re usually taught to prioritize our physical health: We go to the doctor, we go to the dentist, many of us may even take up sports or dance for exercise. We also tend to feel our emotions freely: We laugh, we cry, and we learn how to deal with our anger. But our mental health, our psychological well being? That often takes a backseat.
This Mental Health Awareness Month is a chance for you to check-in with yourself. What’s on your mind? How are you feeling? And what can you do to make your mind as comfortable a home as your body?
If you don’t know where to start, we’ve rounded up 25 questions you can ask yourself this month (and really, any day of the year). Take a look at this list, see what inspires you, and write from a place of non-judgement and self-love.
Mental health journal prompts about favorites
- What is the best gift that you have ever received?
- What has been your favorite age so far and why?
- What do you like most about yourself?
Mental health journal prompts about imagination
Photo by Arina Krasnikova / PEXELS
- If money was not an issue, what would you want your life to look like?
- If you could relive an experience in your life, what would it be?
- Describe your dream house.
- What does freedom look like to you?
Mental health journal prompts about emotions
- Write down 5 things that make you incredibly happy and describe why they make you feel this way.
- Write about something beautiful that may have even moved you to tears.
- Write about a time when you laughed uncontrollably. What was so funny?
- How do you calm your nerves in a difficult situation?
- Write a list of 10 things you want to remember during difficult times.
- If you weren’t afraid, what are five things you would do? Are there any ways you can help yourself overcome the fear?
Mental health journal prompts about gratitude
Photo by Katya Wolf / PEXELS
- What do you love most about the time you are living in?
- What is something that you can do today that people 30 years ago couldn’t?
- Who is the most reliable person in your life and why?
- What aspect of your health do you feel grateful for?
Mental health journal prompts about self-reflection
- Write down all your main coping mechanisms. Evaluate the ones that are most helpful and the ones that are the most detrimental.
- Write down a list of “regrets”. Either throw them away or toss them into a fire.
- What secrets are you keeping? Are these secrets affecting your life or mental health? Why or why not?
- Write about a difficult memory and the coping mechanisms you used at the time. Would you change the way you dealt with the situation? How?
- In the next year, what are five improvements you would like to make regarding your life?
- Write about the aforementioned improvements and create a plan to accomplish each one.
- What’s one thing you don’t feel like people understand about you?
- What parts of life surprised you most recently? What turned out the way you expected it would?
Which one of these questions will you start with? Let us know in the comments below!
Header image via Photo by MART PRODUCTION / PEXELS
Stephanie Nieves is a writer, editor, teacher, and personal empowerment enthusiast from Spanish Harlem in NYC. She studied writing and rhetoric in college, then went on to teach ELA and writing to middle and elementary school students. Her work has been featured in Business Insider, Thought Catalog, FGRLS Club, Grown Magazine, and a number of literary magazines. When she's not writing, you can catch her watching reruns of RuPaul's Drag Race or ordering an overpriced dirty chai latte at Starbucks. You can connect with her on wordchefsteph.com.