Bullet Journal for Anxiety
Bullet Journal Ideas and Examples to Help Get You Started
Journaling has been proven to be an effective tool to help alleviate anxiety symptoms. According to Purdue University, journaling allows you to sort through complex feelings, gain insight into the things that trigger you, and even track your emotional patterns over time. One common question we receive is how to journal for anxiety. In this article, we’re going to discuss how to perform a popular method of journaling: Bullet Journaling.
What is Bullet Journaling?
A bullet journal contains sections to log daily to-dos, keep a monthly or weekly calendar, jot down notes, track both physiological and mental health, and record both short- and long-term goals. It can be a calendar, a to-do list, a goal-tracker, and a diary all in one, but it doesn't have to be all those things
What’s really cool about bullet journaling is that there is no one way to do it. It's built by your mind with you in mind. The only thing that the bullet journal needs to be is effective. How it is created and maintained is entirely up to you.
How to Start Bullet Journaling for Anxiety
First, ask yourself what you want the bullet journal to do for you. Once you have a general idea, build a system that suits your needs. Most bullet journals include a daily log, monthly log and future log.
Daily Log: can include daily to-dos and tasks you want to accomplish during the day and/or daily feelings and emotions of how you feel/felt.
Monthly Log: can include tasks you want to accomplish by the end of the month and/or a monthly calendar of events you have coming up. You can also add other monthly sections including a food, fitness, finance, or book log.
Future Log: can include future aspirations you have for yourself goals, and long-term tasks. Add birthdays, travel plans, and major holidays.
How We Did Our Journal:
For reference, this is how we set up our own Bullet Journal.
First Page: The month we’re in. Example: January
List of tasks we want to accomplish. Example: Get my oil changed, finish online course, etc.
List of important calendar events. Example: Someone’s birthday
Subsequent Pages: Daily Tasks/to-dos, daily feeling chart
Every day I make a list of things I want to accomplish for the day. Example: go to the gym, read 20 pages in a book, go to work, etc.
At the end of my day, I give my day a rating between 1-10. This rating depends on how much I got accomplished and how I feel emotionally.
I then write a brief paragraph about my day. This can include what happened during the day, what was bothering me, what good things happened during the day.
I then finish it off with 1 thing I’m grateful for.
Remember, your journal doesn’t have to have the same set up! Find out what works best or you! And most importantly, have fun with it.
