Stress Management Tool Diary Writing
By Valerie Mellema
One method for dealing with stress in life is to release it and the best way to do that is to write it down. Many people have utilized stress diaries as a method for reducing and understanding stress. A stress diary is a great stress management tool that also allows you to gain insight on your stress.
The concept behind a stress diary as a stress management tool is that it allows you to record information on the stress and stressors you are experiencing. This allows you to later analyze what stresses you out, why you become stressed and how to manage your stress.
This is important because stress can cause your mind to become unfocused and fuzzy. Stress diaries also allow you to understand the details of your stress, the levels of stress at which you can operate efficiently and which levels cause you to have reactions. At the same time, you can determine if your stress reactions are correct or useful.
A stress diary allow you to gain insight on the information you need to effectively manage your stress. You can use them to gain information on a regular basis over a certain period of time. This allows you to separate which stressors are normal and a part of regular life and which are not.
You should make an entry in your diary for every stress related situation that you feel is important enough to document. When you make an entry, record the following information:
- Date and time
- Most recent stressful event
- How happy you feel now on a scale of 1 to 10. With one being the happiest you've ever been.
- How effective you are working now on a scale of 1 to 10.
- The fundamental cause of stress, being as honest and objective as you can be.
- How stressed you feel now on a scale of 1 to 10.
- The symptoms of stress that felt.
- How you handled the stressful event. Did your reaction solve it? Or, did your reaction make it worse?
You will begin to notice a difference the first few weeks after you begin using it. However, the benefit you receive will begin to reduce as you learn to manage your stress more effectively. If your lifestyle changes, you may begin to suffer from stress again and then the stress diary may become an option once again to assist you in dealing with your new stressors.
Use the stress diary to analyze your stress at the end of using it for a few weeks. Make out a list of the most unpleasant stressors you have experienced with the most unpleasant at the top and the least at the bottom. Look at the list and determine which ones you need to learn how to control. After you have analyzed your stress, you should be able to determine how you can handle your stress and how to react to your stressors.
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