Worth Living Ambassador Haddi Browne
Hello, my name is Haddi. I am a Research professional and a Psychology graduate. During my course, I volunteered within various mental health services, which included working on a helpline for people affected by mental illness, organising activities for inpatients on a psychiatric ward, and working in a therapeutic community for people with severe mental illnesses. For me, the most interesting parts of my degree were learning about different mental illnesses and their causes and treatments.
I find that writing about my day and my feelings in the form of a letter or journal is a good way to look after my mental health. Scientific evidence has shown that writing down your thoughts reduces stress by helping you release, process, and come to terms with negative feelings.
When you are writing, you are accessing the left part of your brain which is the part that is responsible for rational and analytical thoughts. The right part of your brain is responsible for creativity, feelings, and intuition. Whilst the left part of your brain is busy with the task of writing, the right part is free to explore solutions without being blocked by whatever situation is causing your negative emotions.
Sometimes it can be hard to get into the habit of writing, journaling or blogging so here are 23 questions/ideas that can help you get started:
1. Write about your day or week so far. Did something bad happen? Or something good? Are you feeling happy or sad? Or did you learn or do something new?
2. Write about a difficult time in your life that you overcame
3. Write down something you are stressed about
4. Share a vivid dream
5. Write down one regret
6. Describe how you want your life to look in 5, 10 and 20 years
7. What are the three things that scare you the most and why?
8. What are three things you can do to help your mental health?
9. Write down your greatest qualities
10. Write down 10 things you feel thankful for
11. Write about your greatest challenge at the moment
12. What are you looking forward to the most about this week?
13. What were your victories today?
14. Describe your biggest accomplishment and why it means so much to you
15. What do you wish most people knew about you and why?
16. What fear would you like to overcome? What can you do to start overcoming it?
17. Describe your happiest and saddest childhood memories
18. What was the last thing that made you feel deeply frustrated?
19. What is a trait that you admire most in others? In what ways do you see that trait in yourself
20. Name ten things you can start doing to take care of yourself?
21. What was the best compliment you ever received?
22. If you could achieve anything in your lifetime what would it be?
23. Choose 3 photos of yourself across your lifetime and write a post about how you feel looking at them, where you were, what you were doing, what you were like, etc.