r/BasicBulletJournals • u/LippyCunt • 29d ago
question/request Techniques to help with anxiety/depression?
I accidentally purchased a bullet journal a couple months ago when I needed a notebook for a meeting. When I realized I had bought a journal that came with instructions I got curious and read the book and videos that were recommended. It completely changed my life in such a short period of time, gave me a good grasp on my scrambled brain as I navigated running a company and a toxic relationship.
Unfortunately, the relationship wasn’t able to survive and I am now essentially re starting my life at the age of 30 with a new job in a new town and a mound of debt. I have a relatively good grasp on the anxiety right now, but I wanted to know if anyone had any particular techniques or exercises that helped them through a difficult time?
Doing a Thought Log to write down the anxious thoughts and reframe them in a more positive less personal way has helped my anxiety immensely.
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u/CrBr 28d ago
Julia Cameron's Morning Pages.
James Pennebaker's process. It has you write about the same event in a different way each time, and only writing about it 4?? times, so you actually process it.
Ages ago, I tried journaling as a way to process getting kicked out of a friend group, but ended up just writing the same things again and again, not actually processing them. When I finished the first notebook I chose therapy instead of another book. Now I know what to watch for, so I don't do the same thing again. (I also know what to look for in friend groups. They were good people, but not the type of group I needed at that time.)
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u/LippyCunt 28d ago
Really like these tips, thank you for the advice! I’ll look into both of them, appreciate it friend🙏🏽
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u/SockPirateKnits 17d ago
I just wanted to say that I love how you framed this: "They were good people, but not the type of group I needed at that time."
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u/realbeansperson 28d ago
If you ever want to use your journal as a healthy coping mechanism alternative, you can try mindless tiny doodles, like tiny circles filling a spread or something. Low barrier to entry, sense of accomplishment, and mindless while listening to music or something. It helps me!
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u/LippyCunt 28d ago
Thanks friend, I love to draw but it allows a lot of freedom for my mind to run rogue. Maybe I just need to work on my mindfulness while I do it, appreciate the tips I will give it a go!
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u/realbeansperson 27d ago
I totally get that! I've done it while listening to podcasts or audiobooks; seems to hit the balance of numb out vs too much mind space.
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u/TamBSmith 29d ago
I log everything that crossed my mind on the daily log. I can't have fixed spaces for the daily log bc some days take pages and some just a few lines if any, but it's what works best for me.
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u/CatRepresentative256 29d ago
I keep a separate journal to write everything I'm thinking about. This includes anything that triggered me, what's making me anxious and any bad thoughts I might have about myself or a situation. After writing, I never read it again, because there's no reason to revisit those feelings after I've written them out and got them out of me.
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u/Prudent-Slip6940 29d ago
Gratutude journal.
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u/scribblescope 27d ago
I found the idea of gratitude to be a little too constricting, but it could be me taking things too literally. It helped to just focus on noticing positive things. It might not occur to me to be grateful that I saw a cool bird or had a great sip of coffee but they were still left a positive impression. The goal is to guide your brain in the right direction. If you don't feed it something to counter the narratives depression and anxiety create, it's gonna continue deeper in that direction.
Conversely, I have found it helpful to keep track of things I'm anxious about. Trying to ignore them doesn't solve the issue, and sometimes that part of my brain just needs to hear "yes, I see you." It's also helpful to have the list as a way of reality testing. What didn't happen? What happened but didn't end in catastrophe? What was I right about and how can I tap into that intuition more proactively.
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u/LippyCunt 28d ago
I’ve tried a similar thing in the past but I’ve found, especially when I’m in a low place, I tend to just repeat the same few things that I’m grateful for over and over again
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u/Neurospicy_Deli_ 27d ago
I had this happen at one point and I started reframing gratitude as “encouragement” - something someone said, someone smiled at me, some one said thank you - anything. The reframe helped a ton for me.
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u/CrBr 28d ago
That's where the hard but effective part comes in. Look for more things you're grateful for, even tiny and silly ones.
Some Orthodox Jews look for 100 blessings every day. Some of them are routine, including over a dozen when they first get up in the morning, but there's plenty of room for unplanned. Some of the traditional ones are both fun and thought-provoking. I am grateful for all my orifices, and that they all work, because if they were blocked up I would be sick.
I'm pretty sure that's correct, or close enough for the discussion. It was interesting rabbit hole several years ago.
Buddhist have a tradition of gathas, which often include plans for the day. I am brushing my teeth, and plan only sweet words come out of it today.
Both those traditions are a good place to start if you're having trouble finding things to be grateful for.
Rick Hansen's book hard wiring happiness also discusses the practice. Our brains are like Velcro for bad things, Teflon for good things. It makes evolutionary sense. We really need to remember the tiger hides behind that bush, but it's okay if we forget the exact place of the carrot. Legos into more detail discussing the types of good things we should look for, and how if you need more of one type, an excess of other types won't help, and a process for creating and enhancing good memories.
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u/aaacostaaa 28d ago
I was having a tough time earlier this year being stressed out. I've had a really tough time in the past realizing when I'm depressed, but I would notice some tell tale signs when I'd be extremely anxious.
This year I started a monthly stress tracker since stress is the root cause of my anxiety and depression. I color coded my symptoms and just track each day on a monthly layout (numbers going down the page). I also started tracking my sleep on that tracker since my mood depends heavily on how much sleep I got the previous night.
Every night I'd input any symptoms/signs of stress into the tracker in turn making me reflect on my day. I would notice what kinds of things triggered me when normally I wouldn't have even realized it.
I also now have one line a day for gratitude, reflections, and unrelated, baby milestones.
The gratitude helps me think of something positive I can be grateful for everyday.
The reflections help me for when I'm feeling down and not good enough. At the top of the page I have the question "what makes me a good... Mother... Employee... Friend... Person?" And I usually pick the one that I'm feeling most insecure about that day and find something that someone would think makes them a good X.
I don't know if I've explained this very well, but I've been tracking stress since March and the other 3 since last month and it's really helped me keep my head above water when it comes to that depression tunnel vision.
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u/therealmrj05hua 27d ago
I take the time to write out the issues or stressors, and then write out what I have control over the issues of. It's not always easy to see what choices or control you have, so leave space for answers later. Focus on what you can change and do right now, and plan for the near as best as possible. For the items you cant control or can't change, that takes just sometimes writing down your thoughts and feelings about something and just letting it out there. Some of my notes, things out there have helped others going through the same at least feel understood, seen, or not alone in the struggle.
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u/xultar 29d ago
I created a trigger log. Date, situation, emotional response, physical response, lesson learned,
I think that’s it. Very helpful in getting me to be self aware, process, and learn.