Journaling

There is a strange kind of loneliness that appears when you can hear other people having fun. Bonfire Night is a perfect example. You can be perfectly content sitting at home until the first fireworks start outside. Suddenly you're imagining families wrapped in scarves watching displays together, couples standing beside bonfires and groups of friends drinking something warm while you're sitting on the sofa wondering why nobody asked what you were doing. Then Christmas arrives

Apparently Christmas is the season of giving. Unfortunately, some people interpret this as giving away your money, time, spare bedroom, emotional energy and every free weekend between November and January. Christmas has a strange way of making perfectly reasonable boundaries suddenly feel selfish. You don't want to attend something? "But it's Christmas!", You don't want someone staying for five nights? "But they're family!", You don't want to spend £100 on presents? "Don't be

There is something about buying a journal that immediately creates completely unreasonable expectations. Tomorrow, apparently, you will become someone who wakes up early, drinks water, journals thoughtfully and never loses a pen. Then Thursday happens, and you forget. Friday is busy and by Sunday, there are three missed entries, and you quietly conclude that the journaling experiment has failed. But do you actually have to journal every day for journaling to be useful? No. Da

Christmas comes with an unusual amount of emotional pressure. You aren't simply expected to celebrate it, you're expected to love it. You should be excited, grateful, festive. Surrounded by people you adore while wearing an excellent Christmas jumper and somehow serving twelve perfectly cooked vegetables simultaneously. And if you aren't feeling particularly merry? That can feel like another thing you're getting wrong. The reality is that Christmas anxiety can affect people f

When do you feel most likely to reach for a mental health journal? Probably not when everything is completely fine. If you are having a good day, you are usually busy having the good day and enjoying every second of it! When something goes wrong, suddenly there is plenty to analyse. This means mental health journals can easily become collections of difficult experiences. And while recording difficult days can absolutely be useful, you may be missing half the picture. If you w

January 1 = Beautiful handwriting, fresh journal, new routine. This is it. By January 12, there is a blank page, and by January 18, there are several. By February, opening the journal feels less like reflection and more like visiting a tiny paper monument to your abandoned intentions. There is guilt. This is one reason undated mental health journals have become increasingly appealing. Unlike daily journals, an undated journal does not assign a particular page to a particular

You spend a week thinking: "I really need to mention this." Then you arrive at your appointment, sit down, and someone asks how you have been. And suddenly you cannot remember anything that has happened since approximately 2007. If that sounds familiar, using a mental health journal for therapy may help. A journal cannot replace therapy, provide a diagnosis or tell you what you should discuss with your therapist. What it can do is give you somewhere to keep track of experienc

Trying to understand what affects you can be useful. Trying to understand what affected you, why it affected you, what it means, whether it will happen again and what that person really meant when they said "fine" at 2.17pm can become something else entirely. If you want to track emotional triggers, there is an important balance to find. You want enough information to notice patterns without turning every uncomfortable feeling into an investigation. A journal can help because

Have you ever had the feeling that something keeps happening, but you cannot quite work out what connects it all? Perhaps some days feel noticeably harder than others. Maybe certain situations leave you drained, irritated or overwhelmed. You might notice that your mood changes without being able to immediately explain why. This is where using a mental health journal to spot patterns can be particularly useful. Rather than relying entirely on memory, journaling gives you somew

You buy the journal. It's beautiful. You have intentions. Possibly a new pen. For three days you become the sort of person who journals. Then Tuesday happens. Two weeks later the journal is underneath a pile of paperwork, and you experience a tiny flash of guilt every time you see it. If you keep giving up on journaling, the obvious conclusion is: "I'm just bad at sticking to things," but I'm not convinced that's usually the problem. Quite often, you've simply chosen a form o

Self-awareness sounds very impressive. It also sounds slightly like something you should acquire during a silent retreat while wearing linen. In reality, self-awareness can be much less dramatic. It's noticing that you always feel drained after a certain kind of conversation. It's realising that something you thought didn't bother you actually appears in your thoughts quite regularly. It's recognising that you're more likely to react strongly when you're tired. Or discovering

When something keeps happening with your mental health, it's completely natural to want to know why. Why do I feel worse on some days than others? Why was I absolutely fine in that situation last week, but completely overwhelmed by it today? Why does my brain apparently decide that 11:47 pm is the ideal time to revisit an embarrassing conversation from 2014? And perhaps the biggest question of all: What is actually causing this? It's one of the reasons people start looking fo

If you've ever bought a beautiful new notebook with every intention of journaling, opened it to the first pristine page and immediately thought ...now what?, you're not the only one. Journaling is regularly recommended as a way to reflect on how we're feeling, get thoughts out of our heads and understand ourselves a little better. But there's a fairly significant detail that's sometimes glossed over: you still have to know what to write. That's where a mental health journal c

When anxiety is high, advice can feel exhausting. Breathe. Meditate. Think positive. Let it go. While some of these suggestions help some people, many are left feeling frustrated when nothing seems to stick. This is often when people start searching for an anxiety journal. Not because they want to write perfectly, but because their thoughts feel loud and tangled and they need somewhere safe to put them and give them some clues on what the hell is going on! Journaling for anxi

If you have ADHD, you've probably been given plenty of advice about getting organised. "Just use a planner." "Make a timetable." "Be more disciplined." If only it were that simple. The reality is that most organisational systems are designed for neurotypical brains. When those systems do not work, many ADHD students assume they are the problem. In reality, it is often the system that needs changing, not the student. Organisation with ADHD is not about becoming perfectly tidy

Starting university is often described as one of the most exciting chapters of your life. You are told it will be full of new friendships, independence, unforgettable experiences, and opportunities to discover who you really are. While all of those things can certainly be true, they only tell part of the story. For many students, the reality is much more complicated. Moving away from home, meeting hundreds of new people, managing your own finances, navigating unfamiliar surro

Have you ever noticed that your mood seems to change with the seasons? Perhaps you feel motivated and energised during spring, more relaxed in summer, unsettled in autumn, or completely drained during the darker winter months. If so, you are certainly not imagining it. Our brains and bodies are constantly responding to the environment around us. Changes in daylight, temperature, routine, sleep, and even the amount of time we spend outdoors can all influence how we think, feel

For many teenagers, going back to school is exciting. Seeing friends again, starting new subjects and looking forward to clubs, sports, and new experiences. But for others, the return to school can bring something very different. A racing heart, a knot in their stomach, sleepless nights, constant worry, or even a complete refusal to go through the school gates. School anxiety in teenagers is becoming increasingly common, and while a certain amount of nervousness is perfectly

If you have ever tried traditional journaling and thought: "This isn't working for me." You aren't the only one. Myself included. Many journaling guides assume that everyone processes information, emotions, and experiences in the same way. They encourage long daily entries, consistent routines, and sitting quietly with your thoughts for extended periods of time. For many neurodivergent people, that advice can feel frustrating, unrealistic, or even impossible. Perhaps your tho

Have you ever felt the need to double-check that the door is locked or wash your hands repeatedly until they feel just right? While these behaviours may seem like a normal part of everyday life for some, for others, they can be debilitating symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCD). I'll be exploring the truth behind OCD, debunking myths and shedding light on the reality of living with this condition, as I do every day. From understanding the signs and sympt