Mood Journals and How they Can Help your Mental Health
There are days when you may be feeling on top of the world, while there are others when you just want to crawl into bed and never leave the room. It's completely normal to have a shift in moods and experience bad days. Emotions can be hard to understand and at times you may be asking yourself, why do I even feel this way in the first place? The good news is it's okay to feel how you feel so don't beat yourself up or feel guilty about your emotions.
Although you may not be able to dictate how you feel at every given moment, you can take an extra step to explore your emotions, know what they mean, and figure out a way to asses them. This is where a mood journal comes in handy.
Why is it important to track my mood?
People tend to make bad decisions when they're angry. It's no surprise that the way we think or the decisions we make are sometimes heavily impacted by our mood. This is one of the main reasons why it's important to keep track of all those emotions you're feeling.
One of the easiest and most practical ways to do this is by writing down your emotions, feelings, and anything in particular that you're feeling in a journal. Writing things down will help you manage and understand yourself better. It helps you break down what you're going through and see your emotions in a more raw, specific way. As you write everything down, you'll be able to recognize what triggers your moods and come up with a strategy to move on and move forward.
How is a mood journal good for my mental health?
1. Helps you Create a Course of Action
Once you are aware of how you're feeling, you'll better understand what you need. Think back to the last time you felt your emotions spiraling out of control. Did you feel like you could make a logical decision during that moment? The answer is most likely no.
When you become overwhelmed, so does your mind and your ability to take action is hindered. A mood journal will help you take notice of your emotions on a daily basis so you can figure out a strategy that will help you respond to them respectively.
2. It Will Aid your Healing Process
Anytime you're feeling uneasy or like you have a lot on your mind try writing it down. Journal away all your emotions and everything you're feeling. Mood journaling helps you sort through difficult times that have occurred in your life so you can see through them effectively.
Think of journaling as a sort of therapy. It allows you to come to a deeper understanding of yourself, which is a key step in your healing process. If you have underlying trauma, suppressed emotions, or continuous negative thoughts write it all down. Pour all of this on to a journal and feel for yourself how much it relieves your mental and emotional health.
3. Helps you Express Every Emotion
If you are someone who tends to overthink and worry about everything, expressing these troubles in a mood journal is essential. Your mood journal won't judge you, offer negative feedback, or think you're crazy. It's a safe place free of judgement where you can be heard.
Writing down your emotions will provide you with a sense of empowerment and freedom, which you don't experience when you retain how you're truly feeling. Don't be afraid to come to terms with your emotions and just pour yourself into your mood journal.
4. Helps you Identify your Triggers
Emotions are always triggered by something, it's normal and it's also part of being human. Triggers can be people, words, situations, opinions, and the environment you're in. If you don't do the work to figure out the root of your emotional triggers, your emotions will overcome you.
Use a mood journal to record the times when you feel triggered. Take note of how you feel and what your reaction was. As you log all this information you'll become aware of what triggers you and identify patterns within your feelings and behavior.
5. It will Help you Find a Solution
Finally, the most important point of all. A mood journal will help you identify the problem and find the solution. When negative thoughts get the best of you, it can be nearly impossible to find a solution. This is where a mood journal comes in.
The more you write, the more you'll feel in control of your emotional state. Journaling gives you the opportunity to break through and experience an emotional release which helps you regulate emotions in general. This will help you overcome adversity in the future and seek a positive path towards a silver lining.