Tag Archives: mental health

Getting Started With Journaling

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Do you keep a journal or some kind of diary?

I have kept a journal off and on since I was a kid using everything from fifty cent composition notebooks to fancy leather bound volumes. Sometimes I write on scraps of paper because there is nothing else available and there are ideas to deposit somewhere.

My brand of journaling is all over the place. Sometimes I write simply to vent and to make peace with a situation. Sometimes it’s to document events or conversations I want to remember later.

Occasionally a problem is best examined through writing. Talking about problems with other people is useless because I find everyone wants to solve it with their brand of wisdom or, worse yet, they fan the flames and make things worse. Writing helps me put all my cards on the table and sift through what really matters until the solution is clear.

Some people use journaling as a creative outlet while others use it to preserve and recall memories. Gratitude journaling is extremely popular right now and I do that sometimes too. In fact, if I’m having a bad day, it’s helpful to take a minute and write about something I’m grateful for at that moment. Gratitude can help put everything into perspective and improve attitude. If you’re not into gratitude and have a lot of angst to unload, rage journaling is kind of fun too!

Finally, if you are experiencing anxiety, grief or some kind of trauma, there is no better therapy than simply dumping all those words and problems onto paper. Even if you just write those thoughts on a scrap of paper and set it on fire, it’s a great release of all that negativity, all that stress, all that stuff you badly need to escape.

Modern researchers often use historic diaries as tools for piecing together historic details and to shed insight into daily life. To be clear, I would be mortified if anyone ever studied or published my journals. In fact, I need to collect all these old books and burn them because I don’t trust my family to do that for me when I die.

My writing is often just glorified scribbles and nothing anyone wants to read. Incidentally, I notice that it’s when I stop journaling that I need to unload some ideas the most. Sometimes the days turn into weeks of skipped writing and it’s usually caused by a desire to look the other way rather than face whatever is bugging me.

If you’re thinking about starting a journaling habit here are a few tips:

– Have a dedicated book. This can be a cheap notebook or an actual journal. TJ Maxx and Marshall’s are a great source for attractive and affordable blank books.

– Type It. Not into old school pen to paper? Type it up! There are websites and apps you could try but a regular old Word document would work perfectly for this. Anyone remember Doogie Howser typing his journal entries back in the day?

– Set a dedicated time to write. It’s easier to make a habit stick if you build it into your daily routine. End of day is a popular time because it’s nice to recap the day and release whatever is on your mind before bed. Personally, I often write at lunch or just before I begin my workday. I tend to keep my journal in my work bag to make this easier.

– Start with a prompt. Sometimes it’s easier to get started with a prompt like what you’re grateful for today, something funny that happened today, what you look forward to this weekend or simply what’s bugging you right now.

– Just write. Don’t stress over it. Penmanship, spelling and grammar are important to me but I’ll be honest. My mediocre penmanship becomes truly terrible when I’m journaling and I’m ok with that. After all, I’m writing for me and no one else is supposed to be reading my innermost thoughts. It doesn’t need to be legible.

Do you have a favorite writing prompt to get the juices flowing? Do you journal or are you thinking about starting? I would love to hear your ideas!

Honestly, I don’t know where I would be today if not for my lifetime habit of journaling. The world would probably be a gentler place if everyone wrote down their achievements, insecurities and troubles in a private place where it’s safe to state the truth.

Outdoor Inspiration From Durango

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One of the things I like best about visiting Colorado is seeing how active people tend to be. Everywhere you look in towns and cities there are people out walking their dogs or jogging. They are kayaking, mountain biking, hiking and on horses.

They seem to just accept that the weather will do what it wishes and they will simply dress for comfort.

It helps that there are so many bike paths, state parks and well maintained sidewalks.

Fast food doesn’t appear as readily available as it is in Ohio so people seem more likely to sit and eat real food and their waistlines show it.

Visiting here always makes me want to do better at getting outdoors and eating my vegetables. I have high hopes for better habits based on inspiration gathered on this trip.

We hiked one morning at Horse Gulch Trail System on the outskirts of Durango. The parking lot is paved and then you hike or bike to the top of a hill to access several miles of trails.

The trail we chose had some old telegraph poles, wildflowers and gorgeous mountain views. There’s little shade but it was still a fun experience.

It reminded me that discomfort, like the harsh sun, isn’t a good excuse to skip out on outdoor time. Ohio’s ridiculous humidity is a better excuse but I eagerly hit the trail last night and thoroughly enjoyed that experience too. Even in the humidity.

I hiked about two miles at Cedar Falls- not a long hike but enough to relax my mind and work up my heart rate.

Time in nature is vital to physical health and mental well-being. I felt better after our hike at Horse Gulch and feel even better after my hike last night despite my sore muscles.

Time in nature can calm the soul and can heal old wounds. It can relax the body and quiet the mind. It can make sleep easier. It can make everything better.

Wherever you are, regardless of weather and all the other excuses, I highly recommend a walk outside. You can thank me later.

Getting There In Spirit

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“I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.”

― Henry David Thoreau, “Walking”

This happened to me Saturday. This summer has been my worst in years. Rain, humidity, work at home and stress from life and work have occupied the driver’s seat much more than I should allow. After all, what’s the point of being single and childless if you can’t go do as you please?

I have needed time in nature for a while now and just couldn’t swing it so I made a bargain with myself Saturday. I had more or less hit a wall where I could no longer function amongst normal humans. So, once my obligations were fulfilled, I would go somewhere that I could get lost for a while.

Unfortunately, the nearest hiking trails to my home are in the Hocking Hills State Park, a beautiful place that has more or less been ruined by the hoards of people who are loving it to death. But I foolishly believed that it wouldn’t be so bad by early evening and that I could make do.

Boy, was I wrong.

I shouldn’t have parked the car when I saw that the parking lot was such a circus. I shouldn’t have gotten out of the car at all. I should have just turned and left when I realized there would be no peace. But I soldiered on, regretting every step. Even on a trail that usually isn’t heavily occupied, there was never a time I couldn’t hear humans babbling about their jobs or about what someone said to offend them. There was rarely a time you couldn’t hear cars and the roar of motorcycles.

There was never a time I could tune out the babble and simply enjoy the canopy of trees overhead or the compacted dirt beneath my feet. The peaceful birdsong was all but obliterated by people who were oblivious to their surroundings. I just kept wondering why they bothered coming to the woods when they were utterly unaware of the power and beauty of it all. They could have been walking in a mall parking lot for all they seemed to care.

Who was I kidding? There would be no losing myself here. The only thing I was losing was my patience and desire to be there.

As Thoreau would say, I went to the woods with my body but never got there in spirit.

So I walked about 30 minutes out before I decided to stop punishing myself. Instead, I left and went into town to pick up some things at Walmart. Interestingly, it was more peaceful and people were more polite at the Walmart than at the state park.

Do with that information what you will but it’s a sad commentary if you ask me.

I hope to try a hike tonight but will go to another one of the parks or nature preserves in the area. None are as convenient but any should be a better choice for actually absorbing and enjoying nature.

And boy, do I need it.

Is there a moral to this story? One might be to carefully choose conditions that will improve your mood and trust your gut when it says to leave. Another might be to not allow outside forces so much power over your life. If the weather is poor when you want to hike, go anyway. If other people want to dictate how you spend your free time, resist. No is a complete sentence and it’s a fair one to use when you know enough is enough.

And don’t neglect your own physical and mental health for so long that it becomes a crisis. Look out for yourself, friends. No one else will do it for you.

Don’t worry. I’ll try again and I’ll keep trying till I get there in spirit.

Thankful Tuesday

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Adventuring has been put on hold for the last couple of weeks as I focus on getting flower beds under control. I’m about halfway done but am hoping to work on weeknights this week to free up next weekend for something that doesn’t leave me dirty, battered, sun burned and covered in poison ivy.

It’s time to hit the open road and have some fun!

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the exercise and the sense of accomplishment. It has been as good for my mental health as it has been for the flowers and, for that, I am grateful.

Choose Wisely: Social Media Can Be Friend Or Foe

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Lots of friends are leaving or at least cutting back on social media exposure. There’s too much negativity, too many lies, too much sales and not enough meaningful interactions.

And I get it.

I have learned things about longtime friends that I do not want to know. For many, it is a window into the soul that tells me that I have been frighteningly wrong about the hearts and world views of many.

Then there are the people who provoke feelings of inadequacy because their lives look so perfect. They’re buying cars and taking expensive trips you could never afford. Plus, there’s always someone peddling something. That high school friend who ignored you for twenty years until she decided to sell 31 bags comes to mind.

Social media can be downright annoying and sometimes hard on your mental health.

But there is good too. Facebook and Instagram have given me access to all sorts of people and information that would otherwise be much more difficult to find.

That’s why I am careful of how I cultivate my feeds. There are some people who I unfollowed years ago because I know their contribution to my world is detrimental. They bring stress and negativity. They don’t earn their keep because they only point out the wrong without offering solutions. They have nothing good to say about anything.

I like people who can be realistic, who talk about the bad but encourage intelligent dialog. These are my people.

I follow some news organizations that report fairly and thoroughly. I belong to groups and pages that provide me with beautiful images, inspiring words, book recommendations, travel ideas, vegetarian recipes, mid century advertising, home decor ideas and all the other things I find interesting.

I know which pages have followers with useful comments and which pages to avoid the comments. Blocking trolls and scammers is easy. So is unfollowing a page that you don’t care for anymore.

In other words, I manipulate social media to make it work for me.

Instagram seems to naturally attract a more positive audience than Facebook so I’m starting to dwell more there.

If you don’t believe me, follow CBS Sunday Morning on both platforms and study the responses on each. Say they post a story about visiting a national park. On Instagram, the comments will mostly be from people saying how much they love that place, want to visit, vacation memories are amazing, etc. On Facebook, that same story is loaded with complaints and people who blame this president or that one for something totally unrelated. It’s like they’re just looking for a soapbox to vent whatever asinine thing is on their mind.

People really can take anything good and mangle it into a travesty.

All the same, social media has given me a chance to connect with people I have met once in real life. If not for social media, I wouldn’t have taken the Ford Tri-Motor airplane ride last year. I wouldn’t be anxiously awaiting the West Virginia Book Festival where I will finally get to meet author William Kent Krueger this fall. I would not have found the Apple Seed storytelling podcast that has brought me great joy.

The Whole 30 would be much harder if not for social media as it has helped me find great recipes for black bean meatballs and realistic ideas for batch cooking. I may never have found the British version of the sitcom Ghosts!

Cousins scattered across the country would be mere names in a family tree instead of friends. A quiet coworker who loves her cats, flowers and rocks would just be a nice lady I chat with briefly. The man I connected with in a fascinating conversation about race while standing in line at a historic house would just be a memory.

This book! I saw a review in a book group and knew it was for me. I’m halfway through and it’s wonderful!!

HOW would I get all my ideas for random road trips? Sometimes they send me to get a grilled cheese sandwich in a great diner two hours away only to discover a neat abandoned theater and country roads that feed my soul. You never know where one simple tip will lead!

So yeah. Social media can be terrible. But my life is richer thanks to social media. It’s all about how you choose to use it and who you allow to have a voice. Not everyone deserves space in your head so they certainly don’t deserve space in your social media feed.

Choose wisely.

Wellness Wednesday

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I have been unnaturally tired for the last couple of weeks and I endured a headache yesterday. It made for a long day.

As my workday ended, I decided that Wellness Wednesday would be the theme of the evening. So I stopped for a walk on the way home and savored the fresh air, stopping occasionally to touch the bark on a tree or to examine the light hitting a shallow stream.

My house needs a good cleaning, my closet is in shambles, the trash needs to go out and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, these things can wait a while so I fed Scout and went to bed.

Warm pjs, soft pillows and a purring kitty cat are my idea of self care. Here’s hoping today is better.

Sometimes self care is candles and a bubble bath. Sometimes it’s doing the work you have been putting off. Sometimes self care is drinking the water and eating the vegetables. Sometimes it is surrendering to the demands of your body and just going to bed.

Learn to listen to your body and learn to know the difference. Understanding what you need is a true skill and one we all should master.