BULLET JOURNALING - THE NEW WAY TO TRACK YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AT HOME
Bullet journalling is the latest trend to feature on minimalist Instagram and Pinterest feeds. Not only is it very aesthetically pleasing, it is also has proved as a successful method for tracking day-to-day mental health (you know, its actual purpose) - looking pretty is just a happy side effect.
Bullet journaling allows you to see how your habits and daily tasks relate to your mental state and feelings, allowing you to identify any patterns that emerge in a safe environment. Many people experiencing negative feelings and possible mental health issues are, more often than not, less inclined to talk about the feelings eating away at them, and this method negates the anxiety-inducing task of having to tell someone how you’re feeling. Of course talking through your feelings is amazing and often results in positive outcomes but for someone who may be too anxious about doing this for fear of judgement or losing that person - this is a safe way to map their mental health.
Sidenote: this is in no way intended as a substitute for professional help when it comes to mental health - if you feel you are really struggling, a professional’s help is invaluable and necessary.
Bullet journaling simply helps to identify problematic behaviours and their triggers, allowing necessary changes to be made. This is the first step in getting yourself back on track; possibly even healthier and more successful than you were before!
Anyway - here’s the bit you actually wanted to know:
HOW TO BECOME A BULLET JOURNALING PRO
Ok so you might be thinking WTF at some point when you read below so here’s a key of journaling lingo:
Bullet journal: a method of journaling and note-taking that uses bullet points as the core structure
Index: a table of contents that you update as you go
Daily Log: shit you did and/or need to do today (+ other observations)
Monthly Log: traditional month calendar + shit you need to do that month + shit you forgot to do last month
Rapid Logging: symbols that help you get that shit done
Future Log: year-at-a-glance calendar where you can put events, goals, and long-term shit you need to do
The main idea behind the bullet journal is that you jot down quick notes instead of writing long sentences, so you can see your day and what you’ve achieved at a glance. Or as a journaling pro would call it - rapid logging.
You can expand on notes to vent or whatever on the next daily spread page to incorporate the diary element of journalling.
In order to differentiate tasks from notes, you have to use different symbols - this is how the bullet journal fuses the traditional to-do list with diary and planner. It's helpful to put a key at the front of your journal to refer back to:
Ok so most of them are pretty self-explanatory, but here's what 'scheduled' and 'migrated' refer to:
Write the less than symbol (<) over the bullet to show that that task has been scheduled to be completed, and write the greater than symbol over it (>) to show that the task has been “migrated” — AKA you didn’t finish it today/this week/this month, so you moved it to another day/week/month’s list.
If you find yourself forgetting these symbols and what they mean or think you have a better idea then feel free to change them.
Getting shit on paper:
Right now the basics are done it's time to actually start putting your pen to work.
You need to start by numbering your pages, as they will relate to your index.
Your index will be your first page, kind of like a contents page to allow you to go back and find specific events quickly, if you need to.
As you're just starting this page will be pretty empty, but give yourself around 2 pages - you never know what you'll have planned!
Don't write in every tiny event, just big stuff you'll probably want to reference later on like holidays, relationship stuff, writing, work, friends etc. it'll probably fill up pretty quickly!
NEXT, is your future log. This isn't as dramatic as it sounds - it's just a calendar of the year ahead which you can go back to and add events through the course of the year as things crop up.
So, just add stuff that you already have planned (trips, work-related stuff), deadlines, birthdays etc. so you won't forget.
Remember to use the symbols!!
NEXT set up a page to track things over the course of the year that might take a little time. So I, for example, made a page for all the books I want to read, and another for all the movies I want to see but haven't got round to yet.
If you decide later on you want to make another of these pages, just add them wherever you are in your journal, and ass the page reference into the index - easy.
Now it's time to get down to planning month-by-month. Just do this at the beginning of each month because doing all twelve months at once seems could be a little overwhelming.
So on the left you'll do a day-by-day breakdown, allowing you to see the entire month at a glance. In the beginning this may only include things you definitely know are happening like booked holidays, birthdays etc. but other things like meetings and plans with friends can be added as they come up.
The right hand page is used for jotting down tasks or notes that have no specific date attached to them, they just need to be done at some point and this list means you won't forget (don't forget to use the rapid logging symbols.)
Bullet journaling pros have designed tons of different ways to do this if you're the type that likes everything looking super organised and perfect. If that's you find some inspo here
If you want to add even more detail, don't be shy to add additional monthly pages. 'Daily gratitude' pages are a sweet idea that I really like and chose to include in my journal because I think we're often too quick to complain and dwell on the negatives of what went wrong in our day, and it's important to sit and think of the positives that we often take for granted, no matter how small.
OR you can track your habits - which is where the mental health element finally comes in - in a monthly format to see where things may be going wrong (or right! of course.)
Ok so you might think that sounded LONG and some of you might not have even read this far (if you did, you're mint) but this whole setting up process literally took me less than an hour and once its set up then it's done for the year basically. Then you'll spend about 10-15 minutes (maybe even less depending how your days been) everyday filling it out, and about 10 mins at the start of each month setting up the monthly pages. Basically, it's a lot less agg than it looks.
Now we're getting to the important bit - tracking your mental health. All the steps up to this point are necessary in providing the framework in order to achieve this.
So this part is building on the last bit - the monthly habit tracker.
The point of this layout is to be able to see patterns. When you keep track of your habits and how you feel physically and mentally, you can start to play detective and make connections between what you did that made you feel good, and what made you feel bad. Which can help you make better decisions in the long run.
First, you need to track how you're feeling physically.
Next, behaviours that can affect your mental health (good and bad), e.g. taking prescription medication, exercise, sleeping habits etc.
“There’s an activating factor with tracking things — if you write it down, you’re more likely to do it, because it holds you accountable,” says clinical psychologist Andrea Bonior.
Then, you'll write your moods - all the possible ways you could be feeling as a result of carrying out the behaviours listed above. This allows you to explicitly lay out how certain habits can make you feel, and in turn allows you to identify possible toxic patterns with more ease.
“If you weren’t keeping track of your mood, it’s easy to try to push those feelings down and invalidate them,” says Bonior. “And then they can kind of come back to haunt you, because you’re not acknowledging that you feel that way.”
You can then expand on these feelings either on your daily spread (daily page detailing tasks, notes etc.) or create additional pages to write in more detail, like a diary.
You can also track your daily habits on your daily spread, in addition to, or instead of, your monthly habit tracker. However, I'd recommend still keeping up the monthly tracker as it allows you to spot patterns that may span over longer periods of time more easily.
If you tend to slip into all-or-nothing thinking, tracking your habits on your daily spread instead of a monthly one can help a LOT. With a daily tracker, you start every day with a totally clean slate.
“That way, you don’t wind up two weeks in avoiding the monthly habit tracker because you don’t want to stare at how you messed up a week ago and give up all together,” says Bonior.
So, now all that's explained, done, blah - you're ready to get on it (*thank god*, I know.)
I've just started this whole thing myself so I'll be posting a review in the coming weeks as I get to grips with it and hopefully I'll have good stuff to report back with!
Sidenote: I've literally done mine in an old diary I had lying around, just a nice lined notebook, most basic setting up going. I decided not to make it all perfect and pretty because I knew I'd get hung up on it, and it made it seem like such a daunting task, and that totally negates the point. This isn't something to take pics of to enhance your Insta aesthetic; it's to track, and hopefully improve, your mental health.
Good luck!
Images | BUZZFEED
