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Keeping a bullet journal for mental health is a terrific method to keep everything together when things are suddenly falling apart, as well as when things are great and so-so. Bullet journaling is more than simply a tool to keep track of your activities, ideas, life events, and chores. You can also use it to keep track of your physical and mental wellness. It is the ideal to-do list, diary, and planner in one.
Managing your mental health isn’t always simple, but it’s essential to know that there is aid and support available if you need it. Let us discover the best bullet journal supplies you can use for your next bullet journal for mental health project!
How Do You Track Mental Health?
The road to mental health “recovery” can sometimes feel like a long and treacherous hike. As you are navigating through the thick forest that is depression or anxiety, it can be hard to keep perspective and see just how far you’ve come.
Keeping track of your mental health journey can be done in many way, here are a few to try out:
1) Long-term journaling
To begin, set aside anywhere from 3 – 5 minutes of your day to write down how you are feeling, how your day went and what you’re grateful for. Whenever you’re feeling extra vulnerable, have a look back through your passages to see how far you’ve come.
2) 12-hour check-ins
Similar to journaling, just on a shorter scale. Take time each morning when you wake up to write a half page passage in your journal and another half page before you go to bed. Outline your hopes for the day versus how it went and try your best to find a few things that went well during your day or that you’re grateful for.
Can Bullet Journaling Help With Mental Health?
Bullet journaling as a handy way of keeping stock of different aspects of our lives, is quite visual and allows us to get creative as we plan, monitor, and track. It also can be a useful aid to our well-being; we can track our habits and moods, our medication and appointments, our self-care and our triggers.
Mood trackers, anxiety trackers, negative thinking trackers, or trigger trackers are just a few of the ways you can actively learn more about your mental health. Awareness is the first step to changing unhelpful patterns. Writing things down gets your thoughts out of your head, reducing stress and helping you become more objective.
Bullet journal for mental health allows you to focus on just one thing at a time, giving you space to think and process events, thoughts, and feelings. It’s also great for reflecting and keeping notes between therapy sessions. You can read more about journaling and mental health.
How Do I Start A Mental Health Journal?
Try these tips to help you get started with journaling:
- Try to write every day. Set aside a few minutes every day to write. This will help you to write in your journal regularly.
- Make it easy. Keep a pen and paper handy at all times. Then when you want to write down your thoughts, you can. You can also keep a journal on your smartphone.
- Write or draw whatever feels right. Your journal doesn’t need to follow any certain structure. It’s your own private place to discuss and create whatever you want to express your feelings. Let the words and ideas flow freely. Don’t worry about spelling mistakes or what other people might think.
- Use your journal as you see fit. You don’t have to share your journal with anyone. If you do want to share some of your thoughts with trusted friends and loved ones, you could show them parts of your journal.
Keeping a bullet journal for mental health helps you create order when your world feels like it’s in chaos. You get to know yourself by revealing your most private fears, thoughts, and feelings. Look at your writing time as personal relaxation time. It’s a time when you can de-stress and wind down. Write in a place that’s relaxing and soothing, maybe with a cup of tea. Look forward to your journaling time. And know that you’re doing something good for your mind and body.
What Should I Put In My Mental Health Journal?
If you’ve started bullet journal for mental health but you’re unsure what to include, certain prompts can help you out. These 8 journaling prompts for mental health can help get you started!
- Talk about your day
This is kind of a no-brainer, but it’s still one of the best ways to get your thoughts and feelings out. That said, the way that you get your thoughts out is important in determining how effective this treatment is. Try to relate events in your day to how they made you feel. It sounds a little cliché, but this really can help you identify trends in your behaviors and how those impact your mental health.
- Identify things you’re grateful for
Finding opportunities to be grateful every day can be difficult for anyone. Despite this, recognizing reasons to be grateful is a quick way to improve your mental health by giving you a positive outlook on life. 19 Printable gratitude journal template examples.
- Write a list of your coping mechanisms
Whether you’ve got depression, anxiety, or another mental health issue, you’ve probably developed some coping skills over the years. So write about them, and evaluate which ones are working for you. If you can, assign a number to how well each helps calm you down in times of emotional distress.
- Describe a goal
What are you working towards? Write it out, then talk about how you’re going to reach that goal. This is a great way to not only keep you motivated but also to make sure that you’re staying on track.
- Write about how different you were 5 years ago
You, like everyone else, are always changing. But it can be easy to forget that when you’re busy dealing with mental health issues. Try to recognize the ways that you’ve grown over the years, and give yourself credit for being better and wiser than you were.
- Write a letter to your body
Whether you want to write a love letter, some complaints, or a letter of apology, it’s important to address your body image. If you can recognize issues in your relationship with your body, then you can work toward fixing them.
- List and describe your emotions
What did you feel like today? List out every emotion that you went through and describe how it felt in that moment. This tool will help you identify the causes of your emotions and how you’re responding to them.
- Write about how you’d describe yourself to a stranger
If you were going to explain who you are to a stranger, how would that go? What are your likes, your dislikes, your strengths, or your weaknesses? Writing this prompt can go a long way in helping you identify how you think of yourself.
Whether you’re taking care of your general mental health or are living with more prominent mental health issues such as anxiety or depression, there are many methods to using a bullet journal that can contribute to maintaining and improving your wellbeing. It can include incorporating skills learnt in therapy such as mindfulness, or a specific spread for simply getting your thoughts down on paper. Try out some of these methods, learn what might work for you, develop as you go and enjoy it!
