Revisiting Mood Tracking - And Why It's Important

Remember this post? And how we talked about mood tracking?
Let's talk about that again.

Recently, I basically spent a month living on our couch. I didn't do a whole lot, other than sleep, watch tv, and lounge about. I had no energy, I had no motivation, and I just didn't want to do anything other than things that took no effort - like sleeping or watching tv.
And that's not okay.

There are a few things that could be contributing to that, and I'm in the process of getting it sorted out with a doctor (more on that in a later post, depending on how it develops!) - but I do know that in order to get any progress done with sorting things out, there needs to be "proof."

By "proof" I mean specific examples, dates, and information other than saying "well I feel like crap" or "I feel like I have way too much energy" - both of which contribute to and are a part of my situation.
That's where the mood tracking comes in.

Again, I'm using the same kind of system as before - the mood for the day, the anxiety and irritability levels, how much sleep I got at night.
But also if there were any naps, if I took  my birth control pill (also to help me remember to take it!), if I had any caffeine, and if I left the house that day and where I went.

I am using two different Midori insert printables for this, both of which are available from Mrs Wenduhh's blog, and I added the booklet to my Chic Sparrow Midori, which is the perfect place for it.

The week on 1 page with graph holds a few different things - the mood of the day, the energy level for the day, the places I went, and the anxiety or irritability and any specific instances of it. I use the graph section to go into more detail for the day if necessary.
It requires an honest reflection of the day, as well as trying to think of why I was feeling the way I was - for example, a lot of the irritation I've been having is because I'm out of the house a ton lately! That I can see as a reoccurring theme, as most days if I stay home register much less on that scale.

The month pages are for tracking - similar to how I have seen people use the DIYFish inserts. The actual calendar looking page doesn't have an actual use yet, though it is filled out with the dates! The monthly tracker page is the one I was most interested in. This is mostly a collection of check boxes for me - was I anxious, was I irritable, how much sleep I got, this kind of thing. Details are in the weekly pages, but this is good for a quick overview of things.

While I'm sure this would be much easier to understand with a visual representation, at this point I do not feel comfortable sharing the actual entries - so I'm hopeful that my explanations are sufficient!

It does take a bit of time out of my day to do all of this. And I haven't been writing in my Hobonichi since I started this, either. That isn't something I am proud of, but I will admit that writing in this mood tracker notebook is much more important to me right now than the Hobonichi. I do need to get back into that habit, though!

At this point, I'm not sure if this will actually help me out, but it is a great way to be more aware of what is going on in my life. If I realize that I've been "in the dumps" for a few days (which has happened since I've started this again), I have given myself an extra kick in the rear to just start on things.

For example, it has been making me more aware of just how horrible I feel in traffic - how crazy it makes me feel...and how unhealthy that is! While I haven't necessarily gotten any better, I am reminded that I don't really want to write for the third or fourth day in a row that being stuck in traffic for a few minutes made me insane!

I know that no matter what "information" I end up collecting, that doesn't mean that I will no longer have days that will involve wanting to just sleep on the couch all day. Those days are going to come along from time to time.
The idea is to be able to see when they are, what they could be related to, and getting them to a manageable level, and not lasting for a whole month again!

Do you have any suggestions of other things to keep track of? I feel like there could easily be more, but I'm not sure of what!

~Havok