I understand you. Life is crazy. The mental fog, the overthinking, the knowing that something needs to change, but not knowing what or where to start. You might have turned to the internet to try to find some advice, but Googling your issues doesn’t help at this stage. You can’t find a single example of a life that resonates exactly with yours. No one is giving you the answers to your problems. 

The bottom line is, you can only really find the answers within yourself. And that’s where people dismiss journaling. They think it’s a little notebook for recording your daily movements. But it’s not. It’s a tool for finding clarity in your thoughts. It helps you know yourself better. This isn’t about gaining more information about ‘what to do’ or how to live a perfect life if you just follow a bunch of cookie-cutter steps. It’s about hearing your own thinking and using that internal information to help decide your next movements, and to help you stay motivated. 

Why You Feel So Confused in the First Place

You’re not a bad person for feeling confused or unsure. And you’re not doing life wrong. The fact of the matter is, in the 21st century, most of us feel decision fatigue on an almost daily basis. There are numerous options available for every single element of our lives, and it’s often the unhealthiest options that are the most readily accessible. Whether that’s food, entertainment, drinks, exercise – the list goes on. 

On top of that, life has changed dramatically for humans, particularly women, over the past 50 years. At the time of writing, women in employment hover around 72% according to ONS data. In 1975, it was 55%. The difference is, despite this dramatic increase in employment levels, the mental (and physical) load at home hasn’t changed much for women at all. 

A lot of women still act as the default parent and decide what dinners the family eats each night. They likely cook and prepare that meal, and take their child to school each morning. That’s before we even talk about any additional at-home chores. They’re also expected to be high performers at work, as well as maintain a social life and have extra-curricular activities that keep them healthy and in shape. It’s no wonder we feel chaotic and confused a lot of the time. We don’t have one sole purpose anymore, and we’re expected to do everything in our lives extremely well. 

Journaling might feel like another task to add to your ever-growing list, but if you treat it as a companion to your life, rather than a job you need to perform, it can transform the way you think and move your unorganised, swirling thoughts from your overloaded brain onto a page where you can make sense of them and act upon them. It provides you with mental clarity, which allows you to breathe, reset and move forward with more motivation.

What Journaling for Clarity Actually Means

When people think of journaling, they often think of it as keeping a log of their day, and that’s where a lot of people are mistaken. Of course, you can write what you’ve been up to – sometimes this adds context to your thoughts, but journaling is about extracting insight from your thoughts and feelings, rather than just saying you ate breakfast at 8am and started work at 9am. Putting it simply, it’s not about the fact that you started work at 9am. It’s how you felt about starting work at 9am. 

Writing your thoughts down is journaling 101. And the reason it’s so effective is that it slows your thinking down. You are probably thinking at a million miles per hour, with thoughts flitting in and out so quickly that you don’t have time to grab them so that you can interrogate them. Journaling allows you to do that. You’re never going to write as quickly as you think, so it forces you to draw out those thoughts and, therefore, slow down enough to try to make sense of them. Once you can grab your thoughts, you’re able to analyse them more deeply, find out where they stem from, and what they mean. 

And if you struggle to think about what to write, that’s fine. There are tonnes of prompts available (in fact, I have 30 journalling prompts posted here). Prompts ask you questions about how you feel, and depending on the area of your life you want to focus on, you can change the questions you’re asking yourself in order to extract the feelings you want to analyse. Don’t let not knowing where to begin stop you. Write one single word to start with. It might be your overriding emotion at that moment, and then build on it from there. Why do you feel that emotion? What happened? How do you think you can make yourself feel better? Or if your emotion is positive, how can you keep this emotion for longer? Do you feel this emotion often? 

You see how one word can stem so many additional questions? This is how journaling works. 

How Journaling Helps You Know What You Want

Your brain allows a hundred thoughts to form each minute. The problem is, they’re like tiny little flower buds that grow and then die at varying paces. Sometimes those flower buds bloom for a long time, and sometimes they disappear before they’ve even had the chance to fully form. This is what our thoughts can look like: 

‘I need to load the dishwasher, oh wait, the milk is still on the counter from breakfast, I’d better put that away, do we have enough milk to get through the week? Actually, I need to write a shopping list. I’d better sit down and do that. Oh, let me just fluff these pillows. Ew, they stink. I need to wash them. Oh no, we’re out of detergent, oh yeah, the shopping list!’

Because your brain doesn’t need to register any of these actions, it moves from each one rapidly onto the next. This is how journaling can help to capture some of these thoughts. Because writing them forces you to slow down. You can’t write as quickly as you think, so it almost creates a funnel where your thoughts get put into a single file and dealt with one at a time. 

And when you write down your thoughts, your feelings and your actions, your emotions become a lot clearer for you to understand. And when you understand your emotions better, you start to understand what you really want. It creates mental clarity where messiness was before. 

The 3 Types of Journaling You Need When You Feel Lost

There’s no right or wrong way to journal. Whatever you feel comfortable with is perfect. But there are a few different journaling styles you can bear in mind which help with different situations. 

Brain Dump Journaling

The purpose of brain dump journaling is to quite simply get the noise out of your head. It’s perfect for when your thoughts feel all-encompassing, and you can’t seem to catch and hold onto one for long enough to solve it. This doesn’t have to be long-winded. 5 minutes of just writing down everything on your mind, in no particular order, is absolutely fine. 

This might look like fast, illegible handwriting, writing sentence after sentence, ranting about how you feel. It might look like a spider diagram with lots of different jobs and priorities pointing all over the page. It might look like a list of things you need to do. It might be a picture that you’ve doodled. There are no rules. This is just designed to quiet your mind.

Clarifying Journaling

The purpose of clarifying journaling is to find meaning in your thoughts. It’s a therapeutic, reflective writing practice designed to untangle complex emotions, reduce mental overwhelm, and gain perspective on your thoughts and experiences. It serves as a tool for mental decluttering, moving you from a state of overwhelm or confusion to clarity by externalising your internal, unexamined thoughts. It helps you to notice patterns in your emotions or thinking, which you can then take action on. 

Some people find it really useful to use prompts for this. Using prompts allows you to answer questions you might not otherwise ask yourself, and they open up a whole new way of thinking. 

Direction Setting Journaling

The purpose of direction-setting journaling is to turn your insights into action. Whether you realise it or not, your thoughts all have an undertone of action. Each negative emotion has a counter-positive emotion, and in between is an action to get you there. When you think about your emotions, your worries and your issues, use this information to set yourself some priorities that will change your outcomes. 

For example, you might write that you feel anxious about work every day. As you explore how this feels and why work might contribute to this, think of some ways you can combat that feeling and weave it into your daily routine as a priority. Actions such as meditating in the morning before work, or making a point to speak to your boss about how you’re feeling, are all good examples. Or even something simpler, like leaving the house 10 minutes earlier so you can arrive at work and take a moment to breathe and grab yourself a coffee before you start. 

These are the types of directions and priorities you can provide yourself with, once you know (through journaling) where your good and bad thoughts and feelings stem from. 

The PAGES Journaling Method to Get Unstuck

If you’re ever in a place where you don’t know how to move forward, or you don’t know what to write, or how it’s going to help you, remember PAGES.

Pause

Begin your journal by slowing down. Take a breath and write what is happening right now, exactly as it is. Stick to facts, not interpretations. This page is about getting everything out of your head and onto paper so you can see your situation clearly. You’re not trying to solve anything yet.

Acknowledge Emotions

On the next page, write freely about how this situation makes you feel. Name every emotion that shows up, even the messy or contradictory ones. Let yourself be unfiltered. Journaling here helps release what you’ve been carrying internally. When feelings are written down, they lose their grip and become information rather than something you have to push through or ignore.

Ground Yourself

Now use your journal to slow and steady your thoughts. Re-read what you’ve written and separate what is true from what you’re assuming. Write grounding statements that anchor you back into reality and self-compassion. This page helps you move from emotional reaction into calm awareness, creating a sense of safety and clarity before you think about next steps.

Explore Your Options

With a clearer, grounded mind, turn the page and brainstorm possibilities. Write down any options, ideas, or approaches that come to mind without editing yourself. This isn’t a decision-making page; it’s a curiosity page. Journaling here expands your perspective and reminds you that there is more than one way forward, even if none feel perfect yet.

Step Forward

End your journaling session by choosing one small action you can realistically take. Write it down clearly and simply. This step turns reflection into movement and helps you close your journal feeling lighter and more empowered. You’re not planning your entire future; you’re just committing to one doable step that moves you forward.

Using the PAGES system gives you a framework to rely on when you don’t know how to move forward or what to do first. Most of the time, the reason we get stuck with anything in life is because we can’t see the next step. Sometimes, we just need someone to tell us what to do or how to get to the next step, and that’s exactly what the PAGES process does. 

What to Journal When You Don’t Know What to Do Next

When You Feel Overwhelmed

Feeling overwhelmed is an unfortunate, but very normal, emotion that we humans feel from time to time. Whether it’s too many tasks on our plate, too much mental load, or too many big decisions to make, it’s all part of life, but it doesn’t have to be something we suffer with, and there are ways to work through the overwhelm. Use these prompts when you want to overcome overwhelm:

• What feels loudest in my mind right now, and what feels quiet but is still important?
• If my overwhelm had a physical location in my body, where would it be, and what is it asking for?
• What parts of today are genuinely urgent, and what parts just feel urgent because I’m exhausted?
• What expectations am I carrying that were never consciously chosen by me?
• If I did nothing for 24 hours apart from recovering, what am I afraid will happen?

When You Feel Bored or Restless

The natural action when we’re bored or restless might be to pick up our phone or switch on the TV. But these ‘quick win’ sources of entertainment don’t often sustain us. We might flick from channel to channel, or scroll endlessly on our phones, but the bored, restless feeling doesn’t disappear. And if it does, you’ll find that the scrolling has probably just numbed the boredom, rather than take it away. 

People tend to be scared of boredom. It’s a feeling we have moved away from as the years trickle by. With the various media types available, who could ever be bored? But being bored is actually an amazing thing, and creativity sparks at the edge of boredom. 

So the next time you’re feeling bored or restless, instead of reaching for the remote, use these prompts instead and make your own entertainment:

• What does my boredom want me to pay attention to that I’ve been avoiding?
• When was the last time I was absorbed in something creative, and what conditions made that possible?
• If I couldn’t scroll, buy or distract myself, what would my mind naturally wander towards?
• If I allowed myself to be a beginner again, what would I try without needing to be good at it?
• What have I labelled as ‘boring’, which might actually just be unfinished or unexplored?

When You Feel Stuck In Life

Sometimes the problem isn’t being overwhelmed or having too much to do; it’s not actually knowing what to do next. And we all feel like this at one point or another. You don’t know what your next move should be, so you don’t make any moves at all, causing you to feel stuck. 

If you’re feeling like this, use these prompts to help you find your way out of this freeze state:

• Where in my life am I confusing discomfort with impossibility?
• What story have I been telling myself about why change isn’t an option?
• What am I waiting for permission to do? And who is going to give it to me?
• Where have I already outgrown my current environment?
• If I trusted myself to adapt, what would feel less risky?

When You Feel Behind Everyone Else

The rise of social media and being able to see what everyone else is up to sometimes only makes us feel like we’re not measuring up. People might be getting married, having kids, getting promotions, starting businesses and enjoying incredible social lives, all whilst you seem to be sitting at home and not moving forward. 

Firstly, remember that social media is a highlight reel, not a 24/7 camera. People are just showing you their best bits, and what these people may be enjoying in some areas of their lives, they may be lacking in other areas, which you’re flourishing in. Not everything is cut and dry, but it’s absolutely normal to sometimes feel like you’re behind, or like you could be doing more. 

If you ever feel behind everyone else, try these prompts:

• Who am I comparing myself to, and what context of their life am I ignoring?
• What progress do I dismiss because I don’t think it looks impressive from the outside?
• What would I say to a friend who believes they’re running out of time?
• How has my life asked me to mature, heal, or adapt in ways that others haven’t faced?
• If I stopped rushing to catch up, what might I finally hear myself want?

How to Turn Journalling Into Real-Life Change

Journaling often gets dismissed as woo-woo. It’s something that feels nice in the moment but doesn’t actually change anything. That criticism isn’t totally wrong. Writing alone doesn’t create change. It’s how you use that written information.This is the point where journaling stops being a reflective exercise and starts becoming a practical tool for clarity, self-trust, and real behavioural shifts.

The first step is rereading your entries. Most people journal and never look back, which is like collecting data and refusing to analyse it. Set aside time weekly or monthly to read past entries with curiosity, not judgment. You’re not looking for beautifully written insights; you’re looking for patterns. What keeps coming up? What frustrations keep repeating themselves? What desires won’t leave you alone?

As you reread, highlight repeated themes. These might be emotional (‘I feel drained after social plans’), situational (‘I’m always rushing in the mornings’), or relational (‘I keep over-explaining myself’). This repetition is trying to tell you something. If something appears over and over in your journaling, it needs your attention and, likely, your action.

This process builds self-trust. Every time you notice something in your journaling and act on it, you reinforce the belief that you listen to yourself.

Journaling creates clarity. Action creates change. When the two work together, reflection stops being passive and starts shaping your real life.

Common Journaling Mistakes That Keep You Stuck

Writing What You Think You Should Feel

Often, when people start journaling, they get this weird feeling, like people can see what they’re writing, or that they need to write in a certain way. This causes people to write what they think they should feel, or what they think they should write, rather than actually how they feel. Remember, the only person designed to see this is you. And if you’re worried about someone else reading it, then hide it somewhere that no one will find it. 

Over-Structuring

Another mistake people make is worrying about the structure of their journaling. Again, the only person who is going to see this is you. As long as it’s legible and makes sense to you, that’s all that matters. You don’t even need to construct full sentences if you don’t want to. This is about what works for you. It’s not going to be marked by your English Teacher. 

Looking for Perfect Answers

You might think you’re able to look back at the last 10 journal entries and figure out your next steps straight away, but honestly this may not happen. You may never find the perfect answers. But you should be able to find answers that provide a little more clarity. It’s about learning more about yourself and figuring out what to do next, not a perfect plan of the next 5 years. 

Quitting Too Soon

The main reason people don’t get on with journaling is because they don’t give it a fair chance. Just like anything, journaling is a habit and requires some dedication and discipline before it becomes second nature. It’s also not a performance that you do once or for a set period of time. It’s a lifelong dedication. It’s a journey, not a destination. And you might not garner any value from journaling for weeks or months. Bear this in mind and just let the words continue to flow as you write, and eventually you will start to see how much journaling is helping you. Journaling should take you through the various phases of your life – the good and the bad. 

How to Build a Simple Daily Journaling Habit

It might feel intimidating when you stare at the blank page in front of you for the first time. So here are some tips to help you get off the ground with your new daily journaling habit.

1. Start with 5 minutes. You don’t need to write war and peace. Starting with 5 minutes is short enough for you to fit it easily into your schedule, but long enough to get some meaningful sentences down. 
2. Keep your journal where you can easily reach it when you need it. That might be your desk, next to your sofa, or on your bedside table.
3. Find a time that suits you. It might be as soon as you wake up in the morning, or straight after your lunch. It could be the last thing you do at night before you sleep. Keeping journaling to the same time of day makes it easier to ingrain into your routine.

Final Thoughts on Journaling

Remember, journaling isn’t just about writing. It’s about reflecting on your writing. Journaling is a habit, but learning from your journaling builds self trust and helps you find clarity with your thoughts. Don’t worry about perfection. It doesn’t have to be in your neatest handwriting, or form perfect sentences. It doesn’t matter if you’re not good at spelling, or your pen is cheap. What matters is the content and being consistent. 

If you want help with some prompts to kick your journaling journey off, then check these out:

30 Journaling Prompts for Anxiety & Overthinking