Stress Relief through Journaling
Stress can lead to multiple health issues including heart problems, breathing issues, and more. You can end up with anxiety and even severe depression. All of this from stress. Relieving that stress may not seem easy. Part of the reason is due to not knowing what is triggering your stress.
This is where a stress journal can come in. Taking the stress, anxiety, and other tough emotions out in a journal is (In my experience) a healthier way to cope than some other ways we tend to express these emotions. Sometimes we need a space that we can vent every emotion, and frustration freely. Here are some ways to make a stress relief journal and put it to use in your daily life to reduce your stress naturally.
The Set-Up of a Stress Relief Journal
A stress relief journal can be set-up in several different ways, but there is one way that seems to work well for most people. This method uses a mix of visual aides, journaling, and routine reflection. You do not need dates for this type of journal. You simply write in it as you need to and as you feel a stress issue coming on.
You use visuals that represent your mood. These can be pictures, smiley faces, or emoticons if you are using a virtual option for your journal. After expressing your mood for the moment, you can then begin to journal what is causing that mood and the stress that you are experiencing. You may find that your journal becomes a hybrid of stress and mood journaling, which is fine and just as beneficial.
When to Use a Stress Relief Journal
You should be using a stress relief journal when you feel a stress in your life. If you have a moment that is triggering or if you find yourself very stressed and no way of getting rid of that stress, then you could use the journal.
Ideally what you will be doing is following through with the routine reflection on those entries. That means that you are seeing where your root issues with stress are happening and why. You can even reflect on why you are experiencing this stress and if there is a deeper issue that may require more focus. Sometimes there is underlying issues or emotions that you arn't accutly aware of, and other times is very obvious what is causing so much stress. This is why journaling can be so helpful. You can use journaling to explore your emotions, life, and stressors to find what is the root of the problem.
How the Stress Relief Journal Helps You
The stress relief journal helps you by helping you get to the root issue of your problem. Like most journals of this type, reflection on your entries are key, but so is being able to rant about the stress you are feeling.
The true statements of how you feel will come out and reflecting on those later may be the key to finding out something about yourself and your stress that you did not see before.
The key point of using a stress relief journal is in the review of the journal itself. Keeping a routine journal is the first step, but when you go back and review the journal you will find what is causing the stress.
You can then remove it slowly to help reduce your stress and live a happier life.
