Journaling

Worry Time

Allow 15 minutes each day to be worry time. Maintain a set time each day if possible. This is a time of day that can be set aside for you to reflect on all of your worries. It can be reassuring to know that you won’t be simply letting go of the things worrying you. This is a good way of filling in your stress journal.

·       Thought Awareness & Stress Journaling.

Negative thoughts have a habit of fluttering into our consciousness, do damage and then back out again.  These thoughts may fear future events, expect failure, express self-doubt or many other negative connotations or beliefs.

Though awareness is the process of looking at your thoughts, identify negativity.  Be aware of what they are in real time and write them down as they occur in a stress journal. 

A stress journal is a valuable tool that can be used to keep track and manage the side effects of stress, experiences and stressors affecting us. We are able to use the journal to document the pressures of life in real time, we expand on this concept by identifying the cause, if the side effects of stress is avoidable and we can follow up with brainstorming potential solutions and developing actions This is a valuable tool to help manage multiple stressors.

·       Stress Journal: 1. Rational Thinking

Look at every thought that you have written down in the journal. Spend time analysing and challenge each one individually

o   Is it fair?

o   Does it stand up to scrutiny? (Did you do the best job possible?)

o   Did you follow best practices? (Efficiency/safety).

o   What can you do differently? (Analyse the process followed)

o   How can these stressors be prevented in the future?  (Maybe extra training?)

o   Single mistakes don’t mean that you are bad at what you are doing.

·       Cognitive Reframing / Cognitive Restructuring:

This is a process that we can use for identifying and understanding negative thoughts. It also allows us to challenging and replace our automatic thoughts (Cognitive distortions).

People usually brush off cognitive distortions easily and within a few minutes. People with extremely high stress leading to a mental illness like SAD, however, may find it far more difficult to let go of these negative and challenging thoughts.  Cognitive restructuring can be used to help minimize the occurrences and effects of these cognitive distortions / negative thoughts.

·       2. Identify Cognitive Distortions

Using your stress journal, identify which of the thoughts you have listed may have bee distorted or misinterpreted. People with SAD only ever recognise situations in Black or White. As a result, generalisations distort the original thought. “ I never enjoy……” or “I always get…..”   (In reality, it is not 100%)

·       Common Cognitive Distortions Include:

o   Black and white thinking

o   Over generalising situations

o   Jumping to conclusions without knowing or asking

o   Disqualifying the positive side of the coin

o   Exaggerating a situation far more severe that in reality.

o   Minimising a situation less severe than it was in reality

o   Filtering Information

·       3. Dispute the thoughts

Ask the following sample questions or edit to make them more appropriate:

o   Are the thoughts true or accurate?

o   Are they supported by evidence?

o   What evidence is there?

o   Are my thoughts based on facts? Or are they based on feelings?

o   What is the worst that can happen in this situation if my view is correct?

o   How likely is worst case scenario?

o   What can I do to influence or reverse the outcome to minimise the negative impact?

·       4. Replace the thoughts

It is now time to replace those initial negative thoughts with more positive language. Focus your time now onto creating a series of positive affirmations. Word those affirmations in a way that with repetition and time, you will be able to restructure those negative thoughts.