Starting a Stress Journal

A stress journal can help you identify the regular stressors in your life and the ways you may deal with them.

Each time you feel stressed, it is a good idea to keep track of this in your journal. As you keep a daily log of events, you will begin to see patterns and common themes that may be causing or increasing your stress.

Write down the following:

• What caused your stress?
• This could be a person, place, or event, but whatever it is, make sure you clearly write what it was that caused you to feel stressed. If you don’t know, guessing is ok.
• What emotion was tied to the stress?
• Were you tired, agitated, sad, angry, frustrated, moody, depressed, hungry?
• What were you doing or thinking just prior to the stress starting?
• Were you driving, talking with your parent, talking with your boyfriend or girlfriend, doing some work chore, doing homework?
• How did you respond to the stress?
• Did you have an outburst, were you quiet or thoughtful, did you walk away, did you argue, did you shut down, did you throw or break things, did you cuss someone out?
• Did your behavior make you feel better?
• Did your behavior resolve the issue and the stress?
• Would you say this strategy is something that would be effective in dealing with stress in the future?
• Is the strategy socially acceptable?
• Is there another strategy you could have used that might have worked better?
• Is there someone you could speak with that might help you deal with this better?

Look at how you currently cope with stress.

Think about the ways you currently manage and cope with stress in your life. Your stress journal can help you identify them. Are your coping strategies healthy or unhealthy, helpful or unproductive? Unfortunately, many people cope with stress in ways that compound the problem.