Journaling as a tool for self-care is a wonderful practice that can boost your health, happiness and wellbeing. Taking time to pause, reflect on your day or week, and write about your feelings, helps you process thoughts and emotions. Your mind will feel clearer and this can result in better sleep, improved moods and more energy. If you’re not sure where to begin with self-care journaling, my 24 page printable self-care journal provides everything you need to get started.
Self-care is not selfish
Learning to look after yourself is vital for living your best life. Self-care shouldn’t be something you do occasionally as a treat, it should be part of your daily routine. If you don’t take care of yourself first, how can you care for others?
How to use your printable self-care journal
Step 1: Learn what makes you happy and do more of it!
Self-care looks different for everyone and it’s important to know exactly what activities make you feel great! Just because one person practices daily meditation for self-care, it doesn’t mean you have to. Exploring what lights you up inside, inspires and energises you, and makes you feel blissfuly happy, is a great place to begin your self-care journaling. And of course, journaling in itself is a form of self-care!
Inside my printable Self-Care Journal set, you’ll find a two-page spread to help you explore what activities make you feel truly happy and energised. Once you get clear on what you most love to do, take a look at your current routine and see where you can carve out more time for these activities.
Step 2: Schedule self-care in your calendar
To help you make self-care part of your daily routine I’ve included an undated calendar inside my Printable Self-Care Journal set. You can print the calendar as many times as you like and start using it during any month. Fill in the days and dates and start scheduling in your self-care practices!
There are also defined areas on the printable calendar to write down your top three self-care priorities, your focus for the month and notes.
It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.
Mandy Hale
Step 3: Printable self-care journal prompts
Writing about your thoughts and feelings is a wonderful way to process emotions, work through fears and worries, and clear the mind. You can practice this type of journaling by writing freely, in a notebook or bullet journal, about the events of the day and how they affect you. But, if you feel stuck, and don’t know where to begin, I have included five journaling prompts, with a self-care theme, inside the Printable Self-Care Journal set. Each journaling prompt includes a topic, instructions and a gorgeous lined journal page to write on.
If you want to write more than a page, don’t worry, you can print as many copies of the lined journal pages as you need.
Answering the printable journaling prompts and questions will help you dive deeper into the topic of self-care to explore what each prompt means to you. As you become more comfortable writing deeply about your thoughts, feelings and experiences, you’ll get to know yourself better and become more aware of your self-care needs. This will flow into your daily life and making time for the activities you love will become a natural part of everyday life.
Feel free to answer the journaling prompts at any pace you like. I recommend writing about one topic per week, over a five week period. Come back to the prompt daily, or as often as you can over the week, and write down any new thoughts or experiences you’ve had. This will give you plenty of time to really explore the topic, allowing your self-care journaling to have an even bigger positive impact in your life.
Step 4: Weekly reflection
Setting aside time at the end of each week to reflect is important. It’s an opportunity to check-in with how you’re feeling, celebrate wins and notice what did or didn’t work.
Reflecting helps you see the progress you’ve made so you can move forward with a sense of achievement, direction and purpose.
Inside the Printable Self-Care Journal set you’ll find a collection of Weekly Reflection Prompts. Print the pages out as many times as you like, and fill one in each week. You can even schedule a weekly reflection session into your calendar as part of your self-care practice, as a reminder to complete this valuable activity. Reflect on your learnings for the week, and set your intention to make next week even better!
10 Ways to make journaling a ritual
Aside from writing deeply about your thoughts and emotions, another powerful way to turn your journaling into a self-care practice is to make it ritual-like.
A ritual is a sequence of activities performed regularly, usually at a set place and time, and in the same order. Here are some ideas to help you turn your journaling session into a self-care ritual:
- Play your favourite music
- Light a candle
- Make a cup of coffee or a soothing herbal tea
- Choose an affirmation or quote to guide your journaling
- Set up your desk with your favourite stationery items
- Start or end every journaling session with a gratitude practice
- Decorate your pages with inspiring stickers
- Choose use your favourite pen
- Begin each session by taking a few long deep breaths in and out to centre yourself
- Set an intention each time you sit down to journal
Performing your journaling in a ritual-like way will help you to feel more focused when writing, planning and reflecting. Journaling in this way nurtures the soul and will leave you feeling happier, more calm and with a greater sense of wellbeing.
See if you can make a regular time to sit down to journal every day. Choose ritual-like activities that resonate with you and make you feel good. Include them in your journaling session as often as possible. Write about the events of your day and how you feel about them. Celebrate your wins, no matter how small, and reflect on where you can improve. Above all, make time for the person who matters most…YOU!
I would love to know how you use journaling as a self-care practice. Leave a comment below.
