You’ve been reading about this a lot but hardly any of the authors managed to successfully explain why running a diary or even taking simple notes at the end of each day helps to reduce the level of stress. To be perfectly honest, they don’t even explain how to do it and what to do with those notes.
And if you do not understand something — remember this — you will never adopt it. Hell, you won’t even bother to check it out. Because one of our biggest fears is the fear of the unknown.
Regardless of the fact that we’re all well aware of this fact, we constantly fail to properly explain WHY! This is WHY you’re not using this effective method that truly helps to at least decrease the level of stress from 9 to 4.
Everything starts with VIZUALIZATION
Once you transfer your mind into a text, you’re able to visualize your thoughts. This is extremely important since we are a visual species and what we don’t see simply does not exist.
When it comes to the stress, at the end of the day we are not entirely sure what caused it. Was it a single event or accumulation of many? Which one triggered the highest intensity of flight-or-fight response?
And if you are stressed out day after day, accumulation of cortisol in your body will start causing physical illnesses. You’ll get sick without even knowing why.
Sure, people will tell you it’s because of stress, but what caused the stress in the first place? Because we respond differently.
Mind converted into the written words allows you to analyze
Some will suggest that it is enough to simply write it down and then throw it away. It may or may not be the true on a long run. But why not pushing a little bit further and fully exploit this piece of gold you’re writing each evening?
Take an hour on Sunday evening (don’t do it on Saturday because why would you want to fuck up your day out) and read your thoughts, day by day.
While you’re reading, note the level of stress each piece of information is causing. Make an imaginary scale 1-10 and assess the level on your own. This is the best method since nobody can truly tell the level of your stress when you’re exposed to come uncomfortable event.
After 4 weeks, take another sheet and paste those events (thoughts) you’ve marked with the highest index. That right there is your problem. Everything else is the ordinary daily bullshit each and every of us experiences so disregard it for now.
Once distilled, start solving one by one by going even deeper into the subject
That second sheet with the highest indexes is who you truly are.
This is the sum of all of your fears enlisted on a single sheet of paper.
You will hardly find anything more valuable than this because now you know in what situations and time of day you need to adjust your response.
But don’t overwhelm yourself.
Start with the event/situation with the lowest stress index and really think about it. Take another sheet of paper and try to recall the exact situation. Put in on a paper to visualize it.
Read it again and mark the points with the highest stress. It’s called micro-analysis and allows you to really pinpoint the particle in a molecule. You will find that a single cause that makes you shit in your pants without any true life-threatening reason.
It won’t take more than two months to change your responses because the brain will do it for you. Why? It is not unknown anymore, so no reason for flight-or-fight response.
Your brain is now precisely anticipating the EXACT course of events because you know now and you understand now. It’s the true value of WHY.
You will still feel a bit of anxiety when facing that kind of situation, but in lower intensity and this can be resolved same as any other fear: expose yourself to it.
Make your way through the list and make the habit out of this. Self-assessments and self-analyses are critical for your well-being and future success. Start now.
