Tame stress with a stress diary

Keeping a stress diary is the first step to taming stress. When you’re under stress, taking the time to write about it may feel like the last thing you want to do, however a diary can give you a clearer picture of stress in your life and how you react and cope with stress.

A clearer picture of stress in your life can help you to implement the best stress management technique for you. A stress diary helps to identify:

• What situations are stressful for you,
• What is causing or triggering those situations of stress,
• What your stress symptoms are,
• How you respond to stress and how effective is it, and
• What your mood or level of happiness is when you are experiencing stress.

How to use your stress diary

In your Stress Diary note your stress levels throughout the day, and write down any stressful events. Your diary is a methodical and routine step to identify the patterns of stress and how you react and cope with stress in your life.

Each time you make an entry:

• Record the time and day.
• Write down the intensity of stress that you felt. For example, completely no stress would be rated as 0, and the most stressful that you have ever been would be rated as 10.
• What was the situation? What factors made the event stressful. For example, I was not able to finish the project by today’s deadline.
• What was the trigger to the event? In this case, what factors led up to you experiencing the stressful event. Ask yourself How and Why questions. For example, Why did I not complete the project in time? Is it because I set an unrealistic time frame for the project, or perhaps I am unable to manage distractions or I have too much to do and not enough time.
• What were your symptoms? Ask yourself how you feel and think, and what sort of things are going on in your body. For example, I am worried and anxious about what the boss will say and am starting to get a migraine.
• How did you respond? Are you tackling the cause or the symptom? What sort of stress or time management skills can you put into place?
• How effective was your response? If you are completely ineffective in the way you manage the stressful event then you score yourself 0. If you are the most effective you have ever been in managing your stress, then you score yourself a 10. Could you have improved on the way you responded to stress? If so, How?
• What is your mood or happiness? If you are the saddest and most depressed you have ever been then score yourself a 0. If you are the happiest you have ever been then score yourself a 10. This can help you identify what your optimal level of stress is. Each of us has a zone of optimal functioning, in which we have an optimal level of stress to maximize our performance and effectiveness.

The stress diary gives you a good picture of stress in your daily life. Keep the diary for one or two weeks, after this time, there are diminishing returns to keeping a stress diary. The next step is to examine the diary for patterns.

Examining your stress diary

In a week or two you should be able to see some patterns or routines that cause you stress. Things that you can do to examine your stress diary are:

1. Look at the intensity of stress and identify what the most stressful events are for you. List the situations. Are there a set of similar situations that you find stressful. How can you avoid or manage these situations more effectively?
2. Are there any common trigger points, or causes to these highly stressful events? List the trigger points that caused you stress. Are there a common set of circumstances that lead up to the stressful event. If so, then what strategies can you put into place if these circumstances arise again?
3. Look at your stress symptoms. List your stress symptoms as physical or emotional. If your stress symptoms are physical then physical stress management techniques may be beneficial. If your symptoms of stress are emotional, then mental relaxation and stress management techniques may be beneficial.
4. How are you responding to your stress. Do you have typical ways that you respond to stress, if so then what are these patterns. Are you responding to the symptoms or the cause?
5. Are you effective in managing your stress? Perhaps you are effective in some responses but not in others. If so, Why? Could you improve on the way that you respond to stress? Knowledge of what works best for you will give you a good idea for which avenues you should take down the path of stress management.
6. How is stress affecting your happiness and mood? Too much or too little stress is damaging to your health and wellbeing. What is your optimal level of stress? Optimal levels of stress can put you in the zone of peak performance.

Conclusion

A stress diary gives you a clearer picture of stress in your life and helps you to make informed decisions about your stress management. Knowing the patterns and routines of stress, and the circumstances that lead up it, and how you cope with stress give you an idea of what works for you. The stress diary also shows you the importance of stress on your daily happiness and mood levels.

Having a clearer picture of stress helps you to put into place more effective stress management techniques.