From timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Maybe you kept a diary under your mattress when you were a teenager. It was a safe place to share your challenges and anxieties without being judged or retaliation. You must have felt relieved to put all of those emotions and thoughts on paper. The world appeared clearer.
It’s possible that after you entered adulthood, you stopped keeping a diary. However, the idea and its advantages still hold. Today, it’s known as journaling. The ability to handle difficult feelings and thoughts through journaling encourages constructive thinking and self-talk. Cleaning your mind of mental clutter, focusing your attention, and increasing awareness of your thoughts and feelings can help you become more aware of anxiety and despair.
Benefits of journaling
It is very important to accept and validate one’s emotions. When you put your thoughts and emotions in a journal, there’s no fear of judgment. There are various thoughts or emotions which get triggered by a certain situation or stress and validating those plays a major role. Journaling also helps us to track our thinking patterns, or the recurring thoughts, and negative emotions that we experience resulting in elevated mood, which is a very important element in maintaining mental health.
Using journaling as a tool
Having said that, how may journaling be used to treat various mental health conditions? So how can a journal assist in managing stress, despair, and anxiety? Now, when it comes to anxiety, it’s crucial to let our feelings out and release them in healthy ways. Either write it down or tear it up and throw it away. The second option is to go for a jog or run, participate in a sport, visit the gym, or engage in any physical activity that will help you let go of any tension or pent-up emotions. Therefore, the first step in letting go of our anxiety is to write it down in a notebook or engage in any exercise that will enable us to do so fully. And secondly, we can write down the things that are making us worried and the places where our emotions are triggered and anxiety is the result.
Dealing with anxiety or depression is made easier with a tool called CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy). We recognize our triggers through CBT. A circumstance, a particular person, an item, or any experience can all serve as triggers. These, therefore, are the various triggers that one could discover and learn to recognize. Second, people could recognize and comprehend how they felt and behaved in response to those triggers. They will be able to comprehend the outcome if they have identified those triggers and are aware of how they feel and act. This is implemented through the ABC model by CBT theory and it aids us in identifying our triggers, comprehending our feelings, emotions, and behaviors, and then determining the repercussions of our actions. This is a very effective and well-researched tool by psychologist Aaron Beck. This tool has been scientifically proven to help people manage mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
Landscape activity: You can also choose to visualize different landscapes and see how you behaved in certain settings. One can make two columns and write about one’s actions in one and one’s ideal behaviour in the other. This will make it easier to comprehend the burnout you are experiencing. Burnout is a result of different situations and emotions that you haven’t dealt with or responded to certain situations and are still unresolved from the subconscious mind. . This aids in identifying the cause of our stress.
Writing in a journal also encourages reflection, which implies that it helps to make us more conscious of our moods, emotions, and various life circumstances. An alternative arrangement can be used to begin reflecting. You can reflect on different areas of your life by choosing different settings like a house set up, and your health. It could also be a work setting from your daily routine and life journey. For example -You can choose any one setting at a time and reflect on it by asking questions like, “How’s my health?” “Do I feel fit and healthy from within?” Am I happy at work?” “How do I feel emotionally about my health, work, and family?”. “Is it helping me to stay happy”? “Is it adding value to my purpose in life?”.
Kickstarting journaling:
When everything around you seems to be in a mess, keeping a journal might help establish order. By sharing your most private worries, thoughts, and feelings, you come to know yourself. Consider the time you spend writing as personal downtime. You can unwind and reduce your stress during this period. Write in a peaceful, tranquil environment while beginning to envision the journaling’s outcomes. Set aside 10 minutes each day for writing; even if you have nothing to write, just scribble and doodle and do whatever your mind desires. Keep writing tools handy, such as mobile notes or a diary, as this can help you to cultivate a habit to journal regularly.
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