Journal prompts for overthinking are quick, easy, and super effective, which is why it’s one of the most helpful things when your thoughts are spiraling and out of control.
Once you’re in the negative feedback loop it can be difficult to get out of it. You don’t want to think like that but now that you’ve thought you can’t not think it yano?
Journaling for anxiety and overthinking stops that right in its tracks.
It forces you to slow down, stop the spiral, and actually think.
That’s why journaling for those of us who overthink can be so helpful.
So if you’re tired of overthinking and ready for a real change, then follow along with the best journal prompts for overthinking.
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Journal Prompts For Overthinking
If you’re currently in a moment of overthinking, dump everything that’s going on in your mind on the page and then do journal prompts for overthinking.
- Where do I believe these thoughts are stemming from?
- What are my coping habits when I’m overthinking? How do I want this to improve? How do I want this to stay the same?
- What do I appreciate about my overthinking?
- What do I not appreciate about my overthinking?
- When you’re overthinking, do you feel it in other places in your body? And if so, where? (your stomach, your chest, your temples)
- What does overthinking mean to you if you had to describe it to someone else who didn’t know what it was?
- When you’re overthinking, where does your mind typically tend to go? Where do you think this stems from?
- Are any of your fears contributing to your overthinking? If so, in what ways?
- What is one small thing you can do to reduce your fears playing a role in your overthinking?
- Has your overthinking gotten better or worse over time? Why do you think that is (the real reason)?
- How do you think your overthinking affects your joy?
- Do you find yourself overthinking more than you feel joy? If so, what is one thing you can do to bring your joy back?
- Is there anyone else in my life who overthinks a lot? How do the way I overthink and the way they overthink overlap?
- What is my goal with overthinking in the next 6 months?
- What are 3 things I can add to my routine to reduce my overthinking over time?
- What are 3 things I can do to reduce my overthinking at the moment?
- How does overthinking affect my overall decision-making? What is one thing I can do to change this?
- How does overthinking lead you to better outcomes? How can you keep this component without the overwhelm?
Journal Prompts For Overwhelm
- What does your internal dialogue look like when you’re feeling overwhelmed? Write out a detailed example.
- When you feel overwhelmed, where do you typically feel it? (In your chest, mind, eyes, everywhere)?
- Do you feel as though you’re easily overwhelmed or it’s stemming from somewhere deeper? For either one, where do you think this comes from?
- Do you feel that overwhelm can potentially be a sign that something greater is going on? (you may need to take a break, someone close to you is causing you to feel overwhelmed, too much stress from the job, etc)
- What do you typically do when you feel overwhelmed? Does it help or hurt it?
- What are 3 things you can do to reduce feeling overwhelmed?
- List one saying that can bring you peace of mind.
- Who is someone that is not easily overwhelmed in your life? What is one thing you think they do to be this way?
- If you don’t know anyone easily overwhelmed, what is one small thing you can do to change your environment to open it up to calm people?
- How important do you think it is to have calm people around? How does your life genuinely reflect that, though?
- What is one habit I can add to bring more inner peace to my life?
- What is one saying that can remind me to stay in the moment?
- If you had to explain how not to overthink to a child, what would you say?
- Describe one way you can simplify your thoughts better.
- What is one thing that instantly brings me calmness?
- Think about your younger self for a second. If you were to give advice to her/him on how to reduce stress and overwhelm in her/his life, what would you say?
- How much do you think overwhelm affects your daily life?
- How can I mentally detach myself from feeling overwhelmed constantly?
Journal Prompts For Positive Thinking
- How can I incorporate one positive thing into my day?
- What is one realistic way to be positive each day?
- How can I turn any situation into a positive for myself?
- When was the last time I got sun? When is the next time I can go walk, sit, or stand in the sun for 15 minutes?
- Are you a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full kind of person? Was a significant person in my childhood this way too? How has this person had an effect on your outlook?
- When you hear positive thinking, what do you think of? What do you think positive thinking looks like?
- How can you slowly incorporate positive thinking into your life?
- What are 3 (specific) things I’m grateful for today?
- What is one nice thing I can do for someone else today?
- Over this past year, has my mindset been more positive or negative? How so, and why?
- Who around me inspires me? What qualities do we share?
- Where do you feel the most positive?
- What 3 things bring me happiness?
- How can I bring more positivity into my home this year?
- How can I put out more positivity in my environment?
- How can I be kinder to myself when I make a mistake?
- What is one positive change you want to make today?
- What is your goal with positivity by the end of the year?

Morning Journal Prompts For Overthinking
- This morning I am grateful ____
- What are two ways I can slow down in the mornings without being late?
- What is one way I can give myself time to slow down in the mornings?
- Today I choose to forgive ____ because ____
- What is one thing you can let go and let God with?
- What is one small thing I can do for myself to make my morning smoother?
- How can I reduce my overthinking throughout the day today?
- What are 3 things you can do or say to counteract your overwhelm/overthinking?
- My affirmation for the day is _____
- What are you worrying about the most right now? Why? What is one thing you can do to let go of it?
- What is one thing you can let go of to have a fresh start on today?
- What usually contributes to my overwhelm in the morning? How can I let go of it?
- What self-care activity can I squeeze into my morning schedule (yoga, making tea, stretching)?
- What is one goal I want to achieve today?
- What’s something kind you can say to yourself right now?
- How can I reframe my overthinking into something positive?
- How does overthinking make or break my mornings?
- What are 2 things you want to add to your morning routine?

How To Use Journal Prompts For Overthinking
1. Start Small
Don’t start off with a lot. Start with about 1-3.
The more journal prompts for overthinking you pick, the more likely you are to water down your journaling session.
I don’t make the rules, I’m just telling you what I know because I’ve journaled daily for years.
If you feel like you need 5-6 questions in a random session, once you’ve been journaling for a little minute, then that’s fine.
But in the beginning, I don’t recommend doing a lot at once. Consistency is better.
I also don’t recommend doing 5 a day every day once you’re more experienced with journaling because that’s still a lot.
2-3 will really do the trick, 4 max if it’s a journal with journal prompts or something.
2. Be Honest
This goes without saying but don’t overthink your responses. Be honest with yourself.
If you’re feeling some kind of way then that’s that.
There’s no need to overthink because you know what you’re thinking or feeling. It’s just a matter of being honest with yourself.
Also, don’t feel like you need to write too much. There is no certain amount you need to write.
3. Use Them Consistently
I recommend using them daily or weekly. This will most likely give you the results that you’re looking for.
- More inner peace
- Less spiraling
- Less anxiousness
- More mindfulness
I would say use them consistently around 6-8 weeks and you will start to notice those changes.

Benefits Of Journaling For Overthinking
Now that we know the best way to use journal prompts for overthinking, let’s get into the best reasons to use them, or to just journal in general!
1. Forces You To Slow Down
What I love about journaling so much is that it really makes you slow down and think for a second. Which pulls you right out of that overthinking spell.
You don’t have a choice but to stop for a second because you have to think about what you want to say rather than all the “what ifs” and “I can’ts” swirling around between your ears.
Slowing down something physical you control (your movements, breath, blinking) inevitably causes you to slow down your thinking.
2. Helps You Stay In The Present
Journaling also helps you stay in the present moment. Again because you have to think about what you want to say right now.
Having something to bring your focus from the past/future to the present is really nice and comes in handy in stressful times.
Journaling also can help you stay in the present by helping you focus on things to be grateful for in life.
I personally write 3 things I’m grateful for every day and I’d recommend that to anyone else too.
Writing what you’re grateful for makes you feel better and attracts more things to be grateful for.
3. Provides A Healthy Outlet
Another great benefit to journaling is that it’s a nice outlet for your thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
It can be easy to take these things out on those we love, strangers, or objects when we don’t know what to do with them.
However, journaling is something you can do with them. You are essentially mind-vomiting on a piece of paper. Once you get it all out it feels super relieving.
You don’t have to write anything specific. Write what’s on your mind.
I also recommend therapy and trying out online-therapy because it’s more flexible and budget-friendly.

Tips For Overthinking & Overwhelm
1. Draw A T-Chart
When you’re feeling overwhelmed it can be really helpful to make a T-chart and on one side put what you can control and on the other side put what you can’t control.
Write every single thing that’s going on in your mind or causing you negative feelings.
Once you have all of those, if you want to take it a step further, choose to let go of every single thing you put under what you can’t control and write at least one solution for each thing you listed under what you can control.
This is something that has helped me for years.

2. Go For A Run
Running also has many many great benefits and can definitely help reduce overthinking.
Moving your body and exerting that much energy naturally makes you get out of your head and stay in the moment.
It also makes you feel accomplished for the day.
3. Remind Yourself To Chill
When it comes to overthinking reminders come in handy because it’s easy to get overstimulated and anxious.
So before we go off the deep end, let’s back it up. And take 3 deep breaths. And remind ourself to relax.
It’s okay.
You are not your thoughts, and your thoughts are not facts.
You are not your overwhelm or anxiety, you have other emotions and at any point, you can choose something different. One small choice at a time.
Some reminders I use are:
- Focus on one thing at a time
- Focus on your breathing
- Stay in the moment
- Girl relax
I just say these in my head to myself. Reminding myself to move slower also really helps.
You don’t have to move slow slow but just slow it down a bit ya know?

4. Read 10 pages Of A Good Book A Day
When I found this piece of advice from The Slight Edge, it brought so much knowledge, peace, and wealth into my life.
10 pages a day is so easy and is actually another way to slow down.
It’s better for your eyes than scrolling, and you’re using a skill that is important to have (so you don’t lose it).
The best part is by doing this you would have read 12 average-sized books (average being approx. 300 pages) in one year.
I personally recommend:
- The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson
- The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky Ph.D.
- The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
- Change Your Questions Change Your Life by Marilee Adams Ph.D.
5. Pray
Praying always helps me when I’m feeling overwhelmed.
People have different interpretations of praying, but what I mean is taking a moment, focusing on your creator, and praying for whatever is on your mind.
If you need to pray for forgiveness, help, gratitude, someone else, whatever it is give it to God and have faith in what you prayed for.
6. Meditate
Meditation was another game changer for me with my overthinking.
One reason was because I started to use what I learned from meditating when I was feeling overwhelmed outside of meditating.
I would remind myself to breathe and direct my focus only to my breath for a moment (some of the practices of meditation).
The second reason was that it’s easy af to do. You can even do it for 5 minutes if you want.
The third reason is it’s so calming, gets you prepped for your day, and has a lot of health benefits.
You really can’t beat that.
Conclusion On Journal Prompts For Overthinking
Journal prompts for overthinking can be a real game changer.
They can really stop your negative spiral in its tracks and really force you to slow down, breathe, and think.
They have helped me tremendously and I know they can help you too.
Remember to try to be consistent with it and don’t do too many in one sitting. When you do 10+ journal prompts in a session it waters down the takeaway.
Try to do no more than 5, I personally recommend 2-3.
Regardless, I hope these writing prompts are of great help.
Which journal prompt for overthinking/overwhelm was your favorite? Do you have any you would add to the list?
Comment down below and let me know!
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