@lsittll You may be pleasantly surprised at how much will come spilling out if your mind onto paper! No need to be fancy, no need for perfect grammar, just let words and emotions flow. It has been a staple of my mental health journey for a long time!

Here is a link to a discussion on https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/journaling-the-write-stuff-for-you/?pg=2#comment-314171
Will you give it a try?
Ginger

@lsittll Hi Laurie. I second Ginger. She is an amazing resource. I think you will be surprised by the benefits of journaling. I learned great mental health tips while attending Mayo Clinic's Pain Rehab Center and have really fallen back on them. Here's a bit of what I learned.

Writing down feelings is a great way to free your mind and move thoughts to paper. Take only 5 - 15 minutes each day to list anxiety, depression, stress (midday works best, not first thing in the morning or before bed). From there, you may find it helpful to make an "Emotional Distress List". I have found this very useful. Make two columns, one of what you CAN control and one of what you CAN NOT control. It's important to see what you can't control so you move on and work on the things you can.

Also, you may find the 5 P's helpful:
- Pause
- Process
- Patience
- Perspective
- Plan

Have you made a list of POSITIVES? Seeing the good is powerful too. Write down the good things in your life, and about yourself. Find small tokens of joy each day. In my darkest of times I started a gratitude journal. I needed to find good and pull myself up even in the smallest ways. I continue my daily gratitude and some days it simply may say, "the sun was shining".