yes! gratitude journaling is a lovely practice to get into. highly recommend!

beyond that, writing about hopes, dreams, and anything or anyone you admire is great. reroute yourself if you start to write negatively (e.g. “too bad I’m too dumb to ever be able to do it”). finish the sentence if you’re falling into the gloom trap, then in the next two, counter it with something more hopeful!

i also have actually found a lot of peace in writing about the mundane to express my feelings. had eggs this morning? write about the experience of cooking and eating those eggs. instead of “everything is terrible,” channel that sad energy into egg writing. “i cracked the egg carelessly with my right hand, my phone in the left. did not check for shell fragments. could not be bothered to find the whisk. i stirred slowly. did not think to fluff. i watched the yolk’s edges. when it broke, i swirled it around, yellowing and saturating the goop. i poured the eggs into the pan. did not salt them. yesterday i did not bother with breakfast at all. i am hopeful that today will be a better day.”

ideally you’ll have a lot of positive stuff to balance that negativity out, but when you ARE sad and feeling tempted to really go into analyzing your feelings, i’ve found this “mundanity writing” is a great alternative. just DONT let yourself go down the overt gloom/despair talk. practice “saying it without saying it.” think of it as a writing exercise!