Tag: therapy

Journaling to Reduce Anxiety

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Journaling may whisk your worries away. Keeping a journal has many health benefits, and according to research it is a highly effective technique for managing stress and anxiety.

Studies also show that journaling can help boost self-confidence, improve mood, relieve depression and improve focus, further reducing your anxiety. There are no rules to journaling. You can write freely or use journal prompts for anxiety.

Research shows that journaling can help

  • Boost mood
  • Release negative thoughts
  • Reduce stress
  • Reduce chronic worrying
  • Release pent-up feelings
  • Induce better sleep
  • Enhance self-awareness of anxiety
  • Help with depression
  • Increase productivity
  • Boost memory and comprehension
  • Help achieving goals
  • Strengthen self-discipline 

Journal Prompts for Anxiety (as taken from a UMN Center for Spirituality & Healing class group work):

  1. What do you feel most anxious about and why?
  2. What 3 positive things have happened to you today?
  3. What are today’s worries?
  4. What are 3 things that you are most afraid of and the reasons why.
  5. What is your dream job?
  6. Write about 5 occasions in your life when you were truly happy?
  7. Write about what you have learned from a past failure.
  8. What strategies have you used to help you cope with anxiety?
  9. Make a list of situations when you are anxious.
  10. What triggers your anxiety or makes your anxiety worse?
  11. Write a letter to a person that caused you pain explaining that you forgive them.
  12. Write about the 3 lessons you have been given by your anxiety.
  13. Is there a situation or person that you need to let go of? Write your reasons for holding on.
  14. Make a list of all the things that you are grateful for in your life.
  15. Take a moment to imagine your life without anxiety. What would you be doing in this life?
  16. Write down at least 10 things that always make you smile.
  17. What are your greatest qualities?
  18. If you could meet anyone in the world who would that be and why?
  19. If you could travel anywhere, where would that be?
  20. Choose a fear that you would like to overcome and write a list of ways how you could overcome this fear.
  21. Describe your biggest accomplishments.
  22. Make a list of things that you like and don’t like about your body. Next to each item write a reason why.
  23. Write down all the people with whom you have a good relationship with and the reasons why.
  24. Think about people who you have a bad relationship with. Make a list of these people and the reasons why. Also, write next to each person why they are still in your life.
  25. Write down your most re-occurring negative thoughts and the reasons why they keep repeating.
  26. What brings you peace and why?
  27. Make a list of 3 things that you want to change about yourself. Then write action points on how you could accomplish this.
  28. Where do you feel the safest and the reasons why?
  29. Who loves you truly for who you are?
  30. Write about what you look forward to every day and the reasons why.

What is social anxiety?

Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) is a chronic mental health condition in which social interactions cause irrational anxiety and fear. Social anxiety disorder typically begins in the teenage years, though it can sometimes start in younger children or in adults.

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If we consider the statistics, according to the National Institute of Mental Health social anxiety is more common among women than men, and approximately 12.1% of U.S. adults experience a social anxiety disorder at some time in their lives. That means that 12 adults in every hundred, struggle with social anxiety, and these numbers are growing every year.

So how can you tell if you’ve got social anxiety? Some of the symptoms are:

  1. avoiding social situations
  2. cancelling plans abruptly
  3. immense guilt when you cancel plans
  4. needing alcohol to face social situations
  5. feeling like you can’t participate
  6. dreading social situations
  7. dreading being outside your safe space (home)
  8. missing school or work due to anxiety
  9. worrying about perceptions of you
  10. overthinking things to say or do
  11. blushing or reddened face
  12. excessive sweating
  13. fast heartbeat when in social situations
  14. talking to strangers
  15. going on dates
  16. meeting new people
  17. making phone calls
  18. making eye contact
  19. using public restrooms
  20. isolating yourself
  21. dizziness in public
  22. muscle tension or twitches when social
  23. stomach trouble when social
  24. dry mouth or throat

At one time or another I’ve experienced many of these. Why? I believe it’s a combination of genetic and environmental factors at play.

The good news is that social anxiety responds very well to medication management; at least for me it has.

If you experience these symptoms for a prolonged period of time, do yourself a favor and seek therapy. No one should have to suffer when there are treatments available to at least alleviate some of the symptoms.

Is jealousy a powerful driver in my life or is it simply a negative emotion?

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I was definitely a jealous child wanting the “normal” that all the other kids had in their lives. Then I turned into a jealous adolescent who wanted to keep the friends I worked so hard to get. It was all a fear-based lie. So, it never lasted. I subscribe to Maslow’s Hierarchy, where one cannot attain a higher level without first establishing a foundation.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

I never had the solid footing to build on as a kid so anything I did socially growing up was a lie. I lied to myself most of all. But like I wrote in a previous post, Karma kicked my butt. For me, I think my physiological needs were met when I was married, not by my ex-husband (Oh, God, NO!), but by starting my family i.e., having my kids. They grounded me. They gave me the need to exist and have a voice. I slept better, ate well (eating disorder went away), exercised more, and read voraciously, predominantly about spirituality. My mind calmed. I saw the marriage for the travesty that it was and strived to get out of it.

Then came safety which I achieved for the kids with the help of many a therapist or the clinic social workers they recommended. One extremely helpful one encouraged me on a path back to college. There is where the honest social relationships came into play. I learned how to be a friend while I was still learning how to be a parent, but I had excellent role models in the social work field. I’d found people in my life who shared my passions and my beliefs.

I still had a chip on my shoulder due to dysfunctional childhood. That disappeared only after a college professor and psychologist told me to write about the pain. I did. And POOF—it was gone! Although, she thought I still buttressed myself with a pseudonym. It took me another decade to extinguish that misrepresentation.

Switching jobs to architectural drafting temporarily for financial reasons gave me the self-esteem I needed. I connected with people and joined groups and took part in conversations to the best my mental health would allow at the time.

That brings me to now, and self-actualization. I’m finally in a spot where gone is the false facade, and in its place honest, safe, successful relationships. Even my mental health is improving. I know it will never go away or be cured; but it’s well-controlled medicinally which clarifies my thoughts and actions. By that I mean the schizophrenia; the OCD is still a security blanket; and the social anxiety still kicks my butt.

So, when I got asked the question: Is jealousy a powerful driver in my life or is it simply a negative emotion? My response is both. Fortunately, it drove me to be a better person. Moreover, I’m able to see it for what it is now, an ugly, negative emotion that needs to be tamped down. It was a lengthy, drawn-out process that had to happen in order to get me to where I am today.