How to handle your stress using a diary
Keeping a diary is recommended for conditions such as insomnia and to help you loose weight but it has also been found that it is an absolutely great stress buster. It is not a diary in which you are expected to write a detailed analysis of your emotions throughout the day, it is really there to help you identify the source of the stress as opposed to how it made you feel. For example your diary entries for one day might say:
-Slept through alarm
-Awful roadworks made me late to work
-Boss was in a bad mood and not pleased I was late
-Arrived late to pick kids up, they bickered in the car resulting in very bad headache made my mood even worse.
-Burnt the dinner because the kids were playing up and it was inedible
-Went to have a bath to relax but there was no hot water.
Admittedly the above is a particularly hideous day but illustrates the concept well. When you look back over the entries the next day you will be able to understand the cause of your stresses and you’ll be able to evaluate if your reactions were reasonable.
To further the effect of the diary and to help you take a firm handle on your stress you could also analyse your stress. How stressed do you feel? What symptoms are you experiencing and how did you handle the stress?
Once you have about one months worth of entries you will be able to spot your patterns and identify the things which provoke your stress. You will almost certainly notice some form of repetition in your diary.
Now it is time to take action and react to your finding. If you see that one person in particular seems to cause you a lot of stress then try to distance yourself from them. Your ultimate goal is to identify what makes you feel stressed and to deal with it in a way that is proactive and positive.
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