Journaling Tips?

[Before you can make things better, you have to stop making them worse...]

  Everyone

My T has suggested I start journaling to bind anxiety and reduce stress.  I happen to have a bunch of stressful things going on in my life right now.   Job, Health, and Family.

Any one have any experience with journaling?  Care to share helpful tips?   I get the basic idea but am wondering how it worked for others?

ducks

[babyducks]

  Everyone

My T has suggested I start journaling to bind anxiety and reduce stress.  I happen to have a bunch of stressful things going on in my life right now.   Job, Health, and Family.

Any one have any experience with journaling?  Care to share helpful tips?   I get the basic idea but am wondering how it worked for others?

ducks

[Turkish]

 Everyone

My T has suggested I start journaling to bind anxiety and reduce stress.  I happen to have a bunch of stressful things going on in my life right now.   Job, Health, and Family.

Any one have any experience with journaling?  Care to share helpful tips?   I get the basic idea but am wondering how it worked for others?

ducks

I started a journal. Mostly just facts of my day-to-day experiences. Date, Day, bullet points. In a lab composition book.

I also started writing my life story, starting with everything I know about my parents' origins. That, I found *immensely* helpful. I also have interspersed my thoughts to things I think are tied to why I got into my relationship.

It really depends on how constant and linear you think your state of healing is on how you do it. My X writes and then deletes on the computer (I found several deleted entries just the same). Now, she keeps her thoughts in a prayer journal.

I don't think there is any right or wrong way to do it. You just do what is for you. Record the day, write as much or as little of what you feel at the time. Leave space for possible entries later in the day (if you are physically writing it). I type up things and sometimes print them out and share with my T. Sometimes, my physical journal (the fact one) anchors me to the events of the past week so I can blow through them and get to the "meat" of the session: me.

Does that help any? It's really for you, so you do it however you feel is right. And keep it safe from prying eyes.

[Lucky Jim]

Hi babyducks, I think journaling has a lot of merit as a way to let go of feelings that might otherwise get bottled up.  I'm going through a difficult period with my children and experiencing feelings of sadness that, if allowed to build up, can lead to feelings of depression.  I use my journal as a way to record those feelings and let them go.  I usually feel a lot better afterwards, like I have opened the drain and let out the dirty water in the bathtub.  For some reason, it is much easier for me to let go of feelings that I have expressed in writing, instead of letting them rattle around in my head.  Agree with Turkish, there is no right or wrong way to go about journaling.  Lucky Jim

[Surnia]

One possibility with anxiety and stress is also to write down what exactly are the fears. Than a possible strategy. And some days later, what really happened.

Event: Buying a birthday present for xy.

My worst case fear: xy will not like it and get angry and insult me in front of all the guests.

What can I do than: I can say calmly - I can change it, not problem.

What really happened: She was so happy about my gift.

[Grey Kitty]

Some people find writing in a paper journal comforting. I personally have terrible handwriting, and don't particularly enjoy the process of writing or even going back and trying to read what I wrote.

I've done electronic journals in a simple text editor. I end up starting a new file every year or so, and I just put in a few dashes, the date and time, and whatever I feel like writing. For a while, most of it was the drama my wife was creating and how I was reacting to it.

With an electronic version, I've sometimes pasted in emails that were significant, and I think I even included a thread from here once or twice

I've found that I write a lot more when I have drama or things I am processing. In smoother parts of my life, I may go a month or six without writing.

Most importantly, there isn't a wrong way to do it!