My 5 Minute Journaling Trick for Anxiety & Overwhelm

I can’t even begin to count the amount of times I’ve heard from people who have just found me or who are beginning to work with me say, I can’t journal or I don’t know what to do when it comes to journaling. I feel so overwhelmed and I start writing down everything that’s on my mind and then it feels like I’ve been writing for forever and nothing changes.

Or I don’t know what to do when it comes to journaling. If this sounds like you, then you are absolutely not alone. Journaling is something you may have heard about or been told to do many times before, but it can be daunting if you don’t know what to do or where to start. In today’s episode, I’ll be sharing my five minute journaling trick that I use myself and also share with my clients to help reduce anxiety, overwhelm, clear your mind, and help you to get a reset if you’re feeling stuck.

Welcome to Calmly Coping. My name is Tati Garcia and I’m a licensed therapist and coach specializing in helping high achievers stop overthinking so they can feel calm, balanced, and confident from within. If this topic interests you then please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so you’d be notified every time I release a new episode.

Thank you so much for tuning in. There are three simple parts to this journaling practice and so it can take as short or as long as you want depending on how much you want to expand on each of the parts. But it really only has to take five minutes. And this is something I have used time and time again to help me.

And it really does help and change how I’m feeling in the moment. And you can use this, let’s say when you’re overthinking things, when you’re feeling overwhelmed, when you’re feeling down or hopeless, when you’re feeling like you need to reset your mind, maybe you’re feeling you need support or you’re feeling stuck or any of those things.

So let’s get right into it. Part one is to write down what is bothering you, what’s overwhelming you, what’s making you feel anxious, et cetera. Just get it out. And you can really dig deep into how you’re feeling or what kinds of thoughts are coming up. and kind of swirling through your mind. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, maybe it’s just writing down all the things that are on your mind and all the things that are on your plate and getting those things out in front of you.

Or maybe you’re feeling worried about something. So you write down, I’m feeling really worried about my relationship, my job, my family, whatever it is. Because this happened and you know, I’m thinking these things or I’m feeling these kinds of emotions because of this and this is what I’m worried could happen.

Or maybe you’re overthinking something. Maybe you said something and you really regret it or maybe you’re being really hard on yourself or something. Just getting down what’s on your mind, what’s bothering you and tuning in with those emotions. Next part two is self compassion. So one easy way to think about this is think of what would you say to a friend who is feeling this way.

Provide yourself with this same level of support and write it out. I know it might seem weird in the beginning, but I want you to really focus on being that compassionate support for yourself. Maybe that means prioritizing your to do list. Maybe if you’re feeling overwhelmed, you might help a friend with, okay, how can we break this down?

How can we simplify this? How can we? See what’s really important today and then let go of the rest or remove some of this stuff or just focus on taking it one step at a time, you know, doing things that might practically help and writing that down and working that out. That’s something I’ve done many times before.

I’ll often kind of like reassess my schedule and say, well, okay, today I originally planned to record for podcast episodes. because I like to do batching. And then I was like, felt kind of overwhelmed by that. Actually, I was going to do five, felt overwhelmed by that. So then I was thinking about it and I was like, and I’ve gotten to the point where I’m kind of doing this mentally now.

I do so write it down if I am feeling really stuck, but I got to the point where I was like, okay, I can do three today and then I’ll do two next week. And that helped to reduce some of that overwhelm and stress that I was feeling. And so I made that plan for myself, or maybe it’s providing emotional support to yourself.

So maybe if you’re overthinking things, it’s tough to be in this place. You know, overthinking things is really hard. However, you don’t have to feel this way forever, or you can focus on the fact that you did the best you could in this situation and you can let go of the rest. Just imagine if it’s really hard to do that for yourself, imagine what you would tell a friend, a family member, or somebody else to support them and write that down and get it out.

Then part three is empowerment. And this is boosting yourself up, speaking to yourself in a motivating way, speaking Motivating words to yourself. So maybe that’s telling yourself and just writing down, this is something I find motivating for myself, writing down, you’ve got this, you can do this. You have made it through difficult times before, and you can do it again.

Every time you grow from difficulty, you get stronger. Even these small things, if you can write that to yourself, it can feel really motivating and it may not It may not completely turn things around overnight, but it is a really powerful step to not only acknowledging and getting your emotions and thoughts out, which that in and of itself can help you with working through things, but it’s also a way to provide yourself with the support.

Port and compassion that you need in that moment that you can already provide for yourself, and especially if you’re the kind of person who tends to go to others to seek reassurance or you tend to feel stuck, or you tend to be really hard on yourself. This can be a really valuable tool to use and to practice, and this is a skill that you can get better at.

It might. feel uncomfortable, difficult, being compassionate to yourself, being supportive to yourself if you’re not used to it. But the more that you engage in it, and the more that you try it, and the more you practice it, the easier it becomes, the more you will start to actually believe it, and then the more it can help you in those moments when things feel challenging and overwhelming.

I hope this is helpful for you. As I said, this is one of the tools that I use with many of my one to one clients. And if you’re interested in learning more about working with me one to one, I specialize in helping high achievers cope with anxiety, overwhelm, recover from burnout, improve their work life balance, and feel more confident from within so they can be more present in their lives for the things and the people that they love.

You can sign up for my waitlist. To be the first to be notified about when I have new openings for my one to one services. This includes therapy or coaching. You’ll also learn more there about what the difference is between the two, which ones you are qualified for, and I’ll answer all of your questions.

You can also send me an email if you have any questions about working one to one together. You can go to calmlycoping.com/waitlist. to learn more and sign up. And your action tip is to practice this five minute journaling technique next time you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed and let me know how it works for you.

I would love to hear what you think of this journaling technique. Definitely let me know in the comments below if you are watching on YouTube or if you are listening on Spotify. While you wait for next week’s episode, I have other episodes about calming your mind, improving work life balance, and increasing your confidence from within.

Thank you so much for tuning in today and until next time, be calm.