So I had an idea of what to write and then I came to writing and I changed my mind. It seems to be a very common thing for me.
My original plan was to write more about what it’s like to have anxiety, especially when you have a partner that you dearly love and some friends that you really cherish. But then I realised that I wasn’t quite up to writing that so I’m going to write about how I cope with my anxiety. Well, a few things on what I use to make it better. I’ll leave the original plan for another day of posting.
This one is a mood diary. They’re so handy and helpful! Unfortunately, if you’re not creative it can be a bit frustrating to set it up. Sadly, that’s what I am. I’m not very creative, when it comes to writing I’d say I’m pretty good but creative art stuff with drawing and colouring, no.
The mood diary is good in the long run though, I mean it looks rubbish to begin with because all it is is a little square with smaller boxes and random dots with numbers. The idea of a mood diary is to keep track of your days and your mood across those days. Whenever you’re feeling crappy and think that everything is going downhill and you can’t keep up just look back at the mood diary and it will help you realise that there are good days.
I read a motto somewhere that said:
“Not everyday is a good, but there is good in everyday”
I don’t know who that’s from, (if you do let me know), but I think it’s something to keep in mind. There have been countless times where I’ve sat there after a big panic attack and I think that I’m done, that everyday is going to be like this and that I can’t handle these panic attacks anymore. My solution? To hide away from anything that might cause them. Now, for anyone who is the same as me, you will know that it is impossible to do anything like that because anything can trigger them. It’s easier for people who know what triggers their anxiety and panic attacks, as well as knowing how to handle them but you still can’t hide away from it, otherwise you’re not going to have a life. Simple. As. That.
Now the mood diary, however, puts everything in perspective. You can see where your bad days are and you can see where the good days are. Obviously, you can’t just say there are bad days all the time, because there will be something which has made it good. For example, it can be as easy as, I sat and watched a movie with my friends/flatmates/boyfriend/girlfriend/family and I felt comfortable or I was able to sit and switch off for a time. It can be that simple and for me, that would push it up to a 5.
So the scale goes, 10 really good and 1 really bad. Obviously the numbers in between are where about’s on the scale it is. When I’m doing this I try to have a positive outlook because I don’t want to look back at this and have an absolute downer; that’s not the point. Some people, I do, write down little paragraphs or summaries of each day and why it was bad and why it was good. It helps me put everything in focus and realise what has made the day good and how that motto can be put into reality.
Mood Diary’s can be as creative or as simple as you want. Mine, sadly, is pretty boring but I’m going to work on it. I’m looking around for ideas and others that I can copy off when I’m redoing mine.
Remember: The whole idea of this is make you look back and see that not everyday is crappy! Not everyday is rubbish! It’s to make you look back and give yourself some confidence that you can do it.
Some diaries have different aspects of life. I have one friend who has pages where one is about their mood, another on their chores they have to do and how successful they are. Another is about their university work and whether they’ve reached their goal of studying and they write up little notes on what works for them and what they shouldn’t do for next time; i.e. have the tv on.
Pintrest is an awesome place to look when looking for ideas – I find so many good ways to do things on Pintrest and they make it so easy to understand.
This one is made by a woman called Katherine, she introduces this really well. Along the side is the dates from each month, along the top each month. I like this one because it shows that there isn’t one set mood in each day and that it can change all the time. I recommend you get one of these notebooks with the dots, it makes everything so much easier to draw. It’s so helpful because it sees what your reoccurring moods are and whether you need to change what you’re doing – it helps whoever you’re speaking to (therapist, counsellor, well-being advisor) to discover what they need to do to help you out further.
This weekly journal is a fabulous layout, organised by Sublime Reflection, and their website gives tips on how to create these journals and gives ideas on which aspects of your life you may want to keep track on. The website gives loads of different examples how you can creatively arrange your journal – I’d recommend again that you get either a plan paged journal or a one with squares, it would be so much more helpful to organise. Colours are definitely helpful, it means you can see the different aspects much more clearly and see straight away how your week/month has been. Of Course the picture I’ve chose above is about daily lifestyle but it is so important to look after yourself though, please be careful and make sure you eat and drink enough for your body to keep going!
There is actually a post on WordPress called ‘Year in Pixles’ which gives a basic template on how to do these. This is a basic mood journal/diary, but it’s good for people like me who struggle with the whole creative side of things. Yet this is easy to do and it means that you can actually track what you’re mood is like. It’s good because you can swap and change this template to be for other things, for example, your chores, your work, you’re sleeping pattern. It’s very important to get enough sleep, although from my own experience, it is so difficult to get enough sleep. Yet, try your best, if you have a sleep journal it sometimes encourages you to actually go and make yourself try to sleep more.
This is all from me for now, if you have any questions please don’t be afraid to pop up on me and message me with them. If you need to talk I’m here but I’d recommend you go speak to someone. I did for the first time the other day and honestly? My shoulders feel so much lighter than they did last year.
Keep Going; Days are Difficult but Keep on Fighting.
AT x
Anxiety Truths 