Write Away the Anxiety
Written by Tina Frazis
Doesn’t life get pretty stressful at times? Whether it’s school, work, constantly running errands, dealing with unexpected problems or presenting that big project in front of the class. Does it cause a type of stress that is more than “normal”? Possibly interfering with your daily life? According to the American Psychiatric Association, anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders and affects 30% of adults at some point in their lifetime. Anxiety can feel overpowering and feel like it’s taking over your body when the sensation begins to run through your body. That’s why it’s important to find ways to cope with this overpowering, persistent, and excessive worry. Letting this power take over our lives on a daily basis can affect so many aspects of our lives, like school, work, completing simple daily tasks, and so much more.
Sometimes I find myself wanting to write everything I’m thinking about in one place, a place where I can keep my thoughts organized because they might get a little messy in my mind due to stress. One strategy that has become very popular in our day and age for fighting off the anxiety corrupting our daily life is journaling. According to Psych Central, journaling can help you feel like you have control over your emotions. It can help you identify fears or concerns that may be causing you stress and anxiety, recognize triggers, manage your stress more efficiently in the future, practice positive self-talk to build your confidence, and identify and reduce unhelpful thoughts and behaviors (Benton, 2022). It can be hard at times to express exactly how we feel vocally, so why not try writing? Journaling gives us an outlet where not only do we write down how we’re feeling, but we can also find so many other creative ways of releasing that stress. Through poetry, drawing, and writing, someone can really use this as a great outlet. There are different types, such as bullet journaling, gratitude journaling, calendar journals, and drawing journals.
Furthermore, if we want to get even more specific, bullet journaling is one of the most creative and recent ways people have been using to cope with stress. Bullet journaling is a type of journaling method that helps you organize your life. You can be creative and use different types of materials to help set up your designs within the journal, such as markers, washi tapes, stamps, scrapbooking supplies, and so much more. Many people use it as a way to keep track of all the aspects of their lives in one place. Some examples can include tracking stress levels, mood, habits, water consumption, hours of sleep, money spent, money coming in, money going out, calendar, passwords, monthly review, establishing goals, tracking milestones and so much more. Bullet journaling can also assist with being mindful. According to Temi Manning, bullet journals can help you be mindful because you're focusing on that one task you’re doing, you’re emptying your mind out into those pages (Manning). You’re releasing on paper all those thoughts that we hold internally. Life can get so hectic, and don’t get me wrong, it can be a lot to think about, so why not write it? Furthermore, a bullet journal can be found at stores like Walgreens, Michaels Craft Store, Amazon, Hobby Lobby, Barnes & Noble, Staples, Walmart, and many more places. What’s even more convenient is that the majority of the journals are price friendly. You can even buy a simple notebook or use pieces of paper and put them into a binder so it’s all in one spot.
Sometimes we believe that we don’t need anything, and we can handle the thousands of things that are a part of our lives, while in reality, everyone should remember it’s always okay to find ways to make our lives just a little bit easier! To give a personal perspective, journaling and bullet journaling are something I’ve incorporated into my own life. As college students, this is the time when we’re learning to balance all the aspects of life while entering the real world of adulthood. Sometimes that can be stressful and cause a lot of anxiety. Incorporating journaling or a form of journaling into your life can not only be a place to be able to release all of your thoughts and stressors into one place, but it can be a place to express yourself, organize, stay on top of things you need to remember, and so much more. I started journaling and bullet journaling a few years ago and I’ve felt my life become way more organized, it’s helped me stay on top of things, it’s helped me visually see areas I need to work on and ultimately it has helped with my anxiety and coping with it while trying to navigate through life.