25 Journal Prompts for When Someone Tells You to Just Relax

Everyone has advice. Most of it starts with the word “just”.

These prompts are for sorting what you have been told into useful, useless and impressively worse than nothing.

The prompts

Pick one. One prompt answered honestly beats twenty-five answered at speed.

1. Rate deep breathing out of five stars.
2. What is the least helpful advice you have ever been given?
3. Invent worse advice than “just relax.”
4. “Everyone gets nervous.” Explain the difference.
5. “Others have it worse.” “Go for a jog.” “Change your diet.” Which have you had?
6. What do you wish people would say instead?
7. Who told you to “just be yourself”? Which self did they mean?
8. “Have you tried yoga?” Describe your face.
9. What is something that helps you that nobody ever suggests?
10. Write the one thing you’d like the people close to you to understand.
11. “It’s all in your head.” Where else would it be?
12. What advice would you give a friend? Would you take it?
13. “Don’t overthink it.” Write your reply. Take your time.
14. Who gets it? What do they do differently?
15. “Calm down.” Has it ever worked? Show the data.
16. What do people assume about you that anxiety is actually doing?
17. What has someone said about flying, driving or needles that did not help?
18. “Think positive.” What is the most positive thing you can say about that advice?
19. What is the kindest thing someone has done without making it a thing?
20. “You don’t look anxious.” What does it look like from inside?
21. Which wellness product have you been recommended most often?
22. What do you say when someone asks “what are you anxious about?”
23. “Just don’t think about it.” What are you now thinking about?
24. Write a review of a breathing exercise as if it were a restaurant.
25. What would you put on a card that says “please don’t tell me to relax”?

Want somewhere to write the answers?

These come from the same place as Anxiety, My Old Friend: A Journal for Things That Haven’t Happened. Its section “Have You Tried Yoga?” has six prompts like these with ruled space under each, plus a bad advice bingo row. The whole journal is a 58-page printable PDF with 60 prompts and ten activity pages.

These prompts are for writing things down and occasionally laughing at them. They are not treatment or medical advice. If anxiety is making daily life hard, please talk to your doctor or a qualified professional.

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