It can be hard to know where to start when you’re new to journalling, but don’t let that blank page stop you. You can find journal prompts to get to started below.
Benefits of Journalling
There are many benefits to journaling both in day-to-day life and in your journey towards recovery. Some of the benefits of journaling include,
Uncover Your Subconscious Thoughts
Journalling can help uncover some of the underlying thoughts and beliefs you have towards yourself, as well as triggers for your eating disorders, in a non-judgemental way.
Track Your Progress
You can use journaling to track your personal growth and progress towards your goals, including recovery. The journey towards recovery is not a straight street, but rather a long, twisty road, and is made up of many small steps. Although you may not feel like you are making progress towards recovery from day to day, journaling can help remind you of how far you have come over the past few weeks, months and even years.
Boost Your Self-Confidence
Seeing the progress towards your goals can also help boost your self-confidence. On bad days you’ll also have old notes to look back on and see how far you’ve come in your journey towards recovery from eating disorders.
Journal Prompts to Get You Started
Despite all the benefits of journaling, it can be hard to know where, or how to start. But the most important thing is to start, even if you don’t think it will be “right”. Below are some prompts that you can use to help you get started with journaling.
Prompts to Help Keep You Motivated
There are periods in your journey towards recovery that you may find yourself wondering “why am I doing this?”, “What am I working so hard towards?”. During these periods, journaling can help remind you of the why behind your journey to recovery. Some prompts that can help keep you motivated include,
-
- What does recovery look like for you?
- What do you want to accomplish in the future?
- What are things that your eating disorder has prevented you from doing?
Prompts for Bad Body Image Days
Poor body image days can be overwhelming. Some prompts you can use for battling bad body images days include,
-
- What are 10 things you like about your body?
- Describe some of the amazing adventures or experiences you have had in your body.
- What is one important goal you have accomplished in the past year? How did you accomplish this? How does that make you feel?
- How can you show your body appreciation today?
- What emotions are you feeling? What is triggering these emotions?
- How would someone you love describe you?
Prompts to Refocus Your Thoughts
When negative thoughts take over, you can use journaling to help refocus yourself on more positive and productive thoughts that can support your recovery.
-
- What are 5 things that you are grateful for in your life?
- What are 3 non-scale goals do you have? How are you going to achieve these goals?
- Who are the people in your life that support you in recovery?
- What are these negative thoughts preventing you from doing?
Tips for Managing Bad Body Image Days
Journalling is just one of many aspects in the journey to recovery and can help reframe your thoughts when you are having a bad body image days, but there are other activities you can do to help. You can find tips for managing your poor body image days from Tips for a Bad Body Image Day.
Start Your Journey to Recovery with a Registered Dietitian
Book a FREE discovery call with a registered dietitian to learn more about the support, accountability and nutrition insights available in your journey towards recovery. Registered dietitians are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to help support you in taking healthy steps towards recovery while proving you with personalized insight into your diet and health.
References
7 benefits of keeping a journal. (2020, March 24). Kaiser Permanente. https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/healtharticle.7-benefits-of-keeping-a-journal
With a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science, Rachel has over 15 years’ experience helping people address their health through nutrition.