Single Mom’s Journaling Prompts for Mental Health

Single moms can use these journaling prompts to improve their mental health. Journaling can reduce anxiety and decrease depression when life gets hard and you have little hope.

After my divorce, I sat for hours staring out the window sometimes crying, sometimes journaling trying to figure out how my life had gone so wrong and wondering what I was going to do next. This is the journal made especially for single moms.

Why This Single Mom Needed Journaling to Cope

At first, I was so miserable I could barely eat. Even chips and ice cream (my favorite comfort foods) held little interest for me. I knew things were bad when I was passing up ice cream. It isn’t surprising I like many women lost considerable weight during the divorce process. My friends were worried I was developing an eating disorder. I didn’t know how I was going to survive the first month.

I was starting to do better and then I ended up jobless. It was like a double punch to the gut. One of my worst fears as a single mom was not having money to pay the bills. So as you can imagine when I no longer had a source of income it sent me into a depression.

I was so depressed that getting the kids off to school was a major accomplishment. Some days getting them to school, getting dressed before they got home, and getting something ready for them to eat was all I accomplished. I was pathetic.

For a change of pace sometimes the anxiety would take over. I was a bundle of nerves, “How was I going to make ends meet? Would I be homeless and the kids would need to go live with their dad? “Nooooo that would be unbearable”.

A New Beginning as a Single Mom

Eventually, I was able to stop my pity party, eat some real food, take stock of what was going on, and use the POWER method to figure out a plan to get to a better place. The plan I came up with was to start my own business. Which turned out to be a great solution to my problem of no money.

I know it sounds almost crazy now to start my own business as a single mom with no child support and no money. I made a list of options, listed the pros and cons. Starting a business came out as the best option.

The two things that helped the most were having supportive people around me who cared and journaling. I journaled for hours about everything the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Life as I knew it was over, so I needed to come up with a plan B. The balls I had been juggling in my plan A were no shattered in pieces beyond repair. 

Journal Prompts for a Single Mom’s Mental Health

I need to reflect on what my options where and how I could put together a new plan. Journaling was one of the things I did that got me from where I was to where I am now. I put together these journaling prompts for you. These prompts are an opportunity to practice self-care and get you through the miserable times of breaking up and starting over.

 

1. Who is in my corner?
2. How are those people able and willing to support me?
3. What would I do if I knew I could not fail?
4. Is the way I am supporting my family as a workable option as a single mom?
5. Where do I want to be 1 year, 5 years, 10 years from now?
6. What skills and knowledge do I have that will help me get from where I am to where I want to be?
7. What are the problems I need to solve to get to the future life I desire?
8. What am I free to do now that was more difficult in my last relationship?
9. What are some of my single mom successes?
10. If I know that I will get to the future I want how would I live this day? week? month? year?
11. What memories do I want my children to have of their childhood?
12. What can I do to start making those memories with them now in your current situation?
13. What are my successes?
14. What did I learn from this relationship?
15. List other relationships romantic and otherwise. What have you learned?
16. How can I grow from this experience of being single?
17. What don’t I want in my next relationship?
18. What do I want in my next relationship?
19. Where and how do I need to heal to be in that type of relationship?

Why Single Moms Journal

Get even more tips to deal with mental health issues single moms face here.

Journaling is incredibly healing and helps you grow. It is also a great way to discover who you are now. When you become part of a couple the relationship brings out parts of who you are. Other parts get less attention. When you are no longer part of a couple it is a great opportunity to spend some time in self-discovery and figure out who you are now.

I always feel more inspired when I have a pretty journal to write in, but even a notebook or composition book will work as a place to sort out our thoughts and feelings.

Some people journal on their computer, but authorities suggest that writing by hand activates a part of the brain that typing does not. Have you noticed a difference when you use a pen and paper vs. typing your thoughts and feelings?

I hope these journal prompts help you cope with single mom life and get in touch with the strong cable woman you were meant to be. You deserve to make your dreams come true and your kids deserve a mom they can brag about.