Journaling Prompts for Feeling Like a Burden to Friends
The conviction that your struggles are draining the people you love is a cruel trick played by anxiety and depression. It convinces you that your friends only tolerate you, leading you to preemptively isolate yourself to spare them the 'chore' of your company. This self-imposed exile denies your friends the opportunity to show up for you and reinforces your own loneliness. Journaling acts as an objective courtroom. It forces you to look at the historical data of your friendships, allowing you to challenge the assumption that your need for support makes you fundamentally unlovable.
Journaling Prompts
Write down the specific evidence you possess that proves you are a burden. Now, list the times these exact friends have explicitly told you they want to be there for you.
If one of your friends was going through the exact same struggle you are right now, would you view their requests for help as a burden?
Identify the specific need you are terrified to voice (e.g., needing someone to just sit with you). Draft a short, direct text asking for exactly that.
Are you projecting your own emotional exhaustion onto your friends? Acknowledge that they are capable of setting their own boundaries if they need space.
List three distinct, positive qualities you consistently bring to these friendships, proving the relationship is not a one-way transaction.