The Stress Awareness Diary: Your Journey to Success
There are many strategies that we all use to deal with everyday stress. If we choose to ignore the problem then we are actually actively planning for this to backfire on us. So, what are some of the ways people usually deal with stress?
Some individuals exercise, while some choose to engage in more unhealthy behavior. If you are looking for a productive way to manage your own stress, while still having the ability to look at the things that trigger your response try out a stress awareness diary. Many don’t know that keeping a journal for this reason actually helps you solve the underlying problem over time. These are some of the immediate ways it can benefit your life:
The action of writing takes your mind off of the events that are causing the anxiety. This in an of itself, is very therapeutic. If it weren’t you wouldn’t be able to objectively think to actually write down intelligible thoughts.
Log the time of the day, as well as the date. If you do a time comparison, you can look for patterns. For example, you may find yourself most vulnerable to stress during certain hours of the day. Or you may find that certain days of the week (i.e. Mondays) result in the most entries into your diary. This information can help you be better prepared.
You will be able to identify if one situation is a major point of anxiety by analyzing the past entries. If you have one thing that keeps recurring, perhaps you will be able to focus your efforts better at dealing with it.
If you find yourself growing more and more anxious or nervous, you will have an exact log of all of the things that led up to this point. Should you seek professional medical assistance, you will see that this is the perfect tool to help the doctor make his assessment. Often times, when we relay our personal situations to doctors we tend to unintentionally leave out some of the facts. It invariably happens. This will ensure that all of the necessary information is front and center.
Finally, it is important that if you are willing to try this that you actually commit to it. This stress awareness diary is not on par with ordinary diaries or journals. Ordinary journals are done in the memoir style for reflection purposes. The stress journal is an active learning tool that will show you many things about yourself that you didn’t already know
More importantly, it can help you make better decisions. If you write down as much of as you can about the context of a situation that you found stressed you out, you will notice that certain people, places or other variables contributed to the anxiety. You will find yourself avoiding those situations, or at least, mentally preparing yourself for those situations if they are unavoidable. Also, tell some close friends about it. If they are willing to commit to it, then you can share your progress with one another. It is a personal journey, but one that can truly lead you to better living.
The action of writing takes your mind off of the events that are causing the anxiety. This in an of itself, is very therapeutic. If it weren’t you wouldn’t be able to objectively think to actually write down intelligible thoughts.
