Bullet Journaling for Anxiety Management

Many people experience anxiety within their lives, and this can progress to a continuous anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are becoming increasingly common, with nearly 6% of UK adults experiencing symptoms each week. Anxiety can be extremely debilitating, because it stops people from doing the daily activities they enjoy. Bullet journaling for anxiety management is an effective way to gradually overcome your anxiety.

Can Bullet Journaling Help With Anxiety?

Professional support is always the first step for treatment, but bullet journaling for anxiety management can help you gain control over your mind as you recover. Anxiety symptoms, including feelings of fear, over-thinking, and panic attacks can make a huge impact on your daily life. You might avoid situations that trigger your anxiety, or have to continuously manage your physical panic symptoms. 

Bullet journaling is a kind of journaling shorthand. It saves time by using a series of symbols to represent types of tasks and events. Bullet journaling for anxiety management works because it gives you a clear overview of your challenges and progress. You can pinpoint your triggers, work towards overcoming them, and celebrate your achievements.

How to Organise an Anxiety Journal with Bullet Journaling

An anxiety journal is a notebook specifically designated for you to work on anxiety management. Your anxiety journal will have daily, weekly and monthly sections to record tasks and goals. 

Anxiety management is all about building towards situations you find challenging. Taking control of anxiety is about recognising that your anxiety doesn’t reflect reality. The ethos of this method is: feel the fear and do it anyway. But this takes time. It can’t be done in one go. Bullet journaling for anxiety management helps you to set challenges at your own pace. 

Start by writing down a few situations that make you feel anxious in your anxiety journal - maybe it’s walking into town, or meeting up with a friend. Then split that goal into smaller steps. Maybe you don’t feel ready to go into town, but perhaps you could walk to the end of the street. Once you feel comfortable with that, build up towards walking round the block. 

You can categorise your monthly anxiety goals with bullet journaling using these symbols.

(o) - an uncompleted anxiety goal (low anxiety)

(*) - an uncompleted anxiety goal (medium anxiety)

(x) - an uncompleted anxiety goal (high anxiety)

(!) - a completed anxiety goal

(#) - a reward!

(-) - additional notes

You can categorise your anxiety journal even further, by creating bullet journaling symbols for the types of symptoms you may have to manage to complete the anxiety goal. This gives you a clear overview of what you need to work on. Don’t be tempted to fill your anxiety journal at first, so you don't overface yourself with anxiety management.

Bullet Journaling for Anxiety Management in a Self-Love Diary

Bullet journaling for anxiety management is about more than facing challenges, it’s also about self-love. Anxiety can be hugely draining for your mental wellbeing, and to recover, you need to take time for yourself. As well as challenges, record your emotions through bullet journaling. Record the time, a symbol for how you feel, and a scale of the intensity from one to ten. Symbols could include:

(A) - anxious

(F) - frightened

(C) - calm

(H) - happy

(S) - sad

If your emotions are taking a dip, practice self-care, either through mindfulness, exercise or another form of relaxation, and record your feelings afterwards. This can help you uncover what relaxation techniques work for you. Make sure to fit these techniques into your routines, as well. Relaxation and self-love is a vital part of anxiety management.

Bullet journaling for anxiety management means giving yourself the space and time for recovery. Don’t worry if you can’t manage a few of the challenges right away - that’s natural. It may be that you’re not ready for that challenge yet, and you can always come back to it later. Using an anxiety journal to overcome your anxiety is not about pressuring yourself, it’s about gaining control of your anxiety in a way that feels comfortable to you.