Writing My Stress Away | Gin and Glow

Hey, I wan to apologize in advance because this post isn't about skincare or makeup or beauty in general. It's about mental health, it's about me and everyone else struggling with it. If you're one of them, don't worry I got you - or at least we have each other.

Mental health is often considered taboo, especially here in Indonesia. It's considered a disability. Only a few people talk about it. Most people just pretend it doesn't exist. But it's a real thing and I'm struggling with it. I seek professional help but I personally feel that writing everything down is a good way to get it all out of my system.

I've spoken before (or more like written) about mental health on my Instagram, which you can read here.

I have depression and anxiety, such a deadly combination, and I want to say that recently I find journaling very helpful. Yes, me and journaling sounds very silly, you would imagine me sitting at a bar sipping gin and tonic but you wouldn't imagine me sitting on the floor with pen in hand, writing a journal. So this is my journal, I used this book from Sephora (I got it as a gift when I became a gold member).

If you're interested in how it has helped me, keep reading!

I see a therapist - she's amazing, her voice is so soothing (if she's a dude she's probably Morgan Freeman or something), and she has taught me many things. She helped me learn to control my negative thoughts, to communicate and express how I feel, and she has been a great help overall. I've managed my anxiety pretty well and I tend to be more positive and strong when stuff happens, so I don't have to fall back into that drunk and depressed hole.

For journaling, you don't need a lot of stuff. Just pick a random empty notebook (I prefer blank notebooks, or dotted because I find lines annoying), and a pen. You might need a ruler as well if you're messy like me. I also added these washi tape that says "Monday", "Tuesday", etc because I can't write pretty like that. This is optional, though, you don't have to write pretty, it's your journal, it's for your thoughts and feelings, not aesthetic.

This is my usual journal spread. I'm sorry I can only show you an empty spread because my previous entries is kinda personal and I mentioned a lot of people in it.

In my journal, I write the date (of course) and things I'm grateful for that day. Writing gratitude is very important because no matter what bad stuff happened that day, you still have something to be grateful for. I try to write down at least 3 things I'm grateful for everyday, sometimes I write more!

Since I have anxiety, I also create a "Worries and Anxiety" section. In here I write about things I was worried about and how I fixed it, or how I'm going to fix it. Things that went bad and how I handled it and how I felt about it. 

I also added a Vent Box. In this section I vent about anything that happened - a lot of things happen in a day but I usually do Vent Box only for very, very sad/emotional things. In this box it's not limited to anxiety, I can write about my anger, my feelings, my sadness - basically it's like writing a letter to my therapist.

I also add this "Note to Self/Self reflection" section, which is basically like a reminder to myself. I usually write some encouraging words here, or a reminder, like "You might feel broken now and nothing can fix it, but remember you have to go to work tomorrow because your job is your responsibility and you need your salary", or "Remember to drink a lot of water tomorrow because hydration is important". It's like a free section, you can write anything you want.

My gratitude section has helped me feel more positive during bad days, and my 'worries and anxiety' section has helped me manage my stress and anxiety and actually fix them instead of just thinking about them. My 'vent box' helped me release anger, sadness and any kind of powerful but dangerous emotions. So yes, journaling has helped me with my mental health struggles.

For any of you reading this, if you're struggling with something and you feel alone, or you're not ready to talk about it, seek professional help. See a therapist. Seeing a therapist helps a lot, but you're not going to get better if you're not trying. But please, remember that you're not alone, you're not broken. You're precious, at least to somebody in this world, and you can count me in as somebody if you want to.

Much love,

Alexa