Bullet Journaling & Mental Health | Faith Swick from Life of Faif

When your doctor or therapist asks how much sleep you’ve gotten do you just sit there and say “ummmm….?” Yeah, me too. I’m terrible at keeping track of self care stuff. Luckily I discovered bullet journaling. I’m going to share some of the things that work for me and some that didn’t.

*I get all my inspiration from Pinterest*

First, I need to track my moods. They are often all over the place, but I need to be able to tell my therapist about any patterns that may occur. For this I do what I call my Mood Log. Here is a picture of last month’s:

You can see I also keep track of if I’m sick. Sometimes I have multiple moods and need to write things like: good, but depressed at bedtime. Some journalers like to sum up their days in just quick single moods. I tried this in January and it just didn’t work for me. I like to keep track of my rollercoaster of emotions, and often times it was frustrating to sum up my days with just one mood. BUT that doesn’t mean it might not work for you so here is an example of some other ways journalers have done it:

Next, I like to track my habits. Warning: this can be discouraging at times. It’s important to remember that even if you were only able to mark one box, you’re doing the best you can. At first I almost stopped tracking my habits because I found it to be more stressful than helpful. Ben encouraged me to stick it out for a month and see. After the month I was amazed to see some patterns. I learned that generally on days where I take longer than an hour nap I get less done. I can also see things like I tend to nap more in the middle of the month. I love being able to see these things in my daily life so that I know how I can grow and become better. I learn what I do not do enough of and what I am really good at. It’s equally encouraging and challenging.

Like I said, journaling can be stressful so if you want to start with something lighter and fun here are some examples I found on Pinterest of things you could try. Remember, this is just from my personal experience so what worked for me might not work as well for you. Try different things! Make it fun and something to be helpful not stressful.

Keep track of the little adventures life can bring

Binge Watcher? Me too! Keep track of what you’ve watched so far.

Movie lover? Same! Create a little ticket tracker.

Saving up for something fun? Keep track of how close you are to your goal.

There are so many different ways we can keep our hands and minds busy by journaling. Doodling often helps too. I encourage you to try it sometime! I get all of these images and ideas from Pinterest so if you don’t know where to start, try searching “bullet journal ideas”. Good luck and let me know how it goes if you decide to try!

 

 

Special thanks to Faith Swick of Life of Faif for this excellent post on bullet journaling!