Depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders can knock your life off balance. Stress can intensify moods, making it harder for you to feel safe and like life is manageable.
Without some sort of deliberate action to change, feelings of instability and negativity can dictate your life and keep you from reaching your full potential.
The good news is that there are many self-care strategies you can use to help soothe emotional distress. But first, you need to know about one oft-overlooked, proactive step you can take today that will help you smooth out your mood and feel back on track:
Track your mood trends.
You see, by keeping on track of your mood trends, you’ll know when your mood starts sliding too far in one direction. Even better, tracking can help you stay one step ahead of a negative change so you can then take focused self-care actions to keep your emotional health in better balance.
What Are Mood Trends Anyway?
Mood trends are a measure of how your mood changes over time. For example, if you generally feel ok but have been feeling down for the past few days, that would be considered a downward mood trend. Alternatively, if you've been feeling a little off, but had a good day yesterday, that would be considered an upward mood trend.
Mood trends can help you understand when your mood is starting to shift, which can give you time to take action. More importantly, tracking your mood can also help you identify patterns in your emotions, which can be helpful for figuring out what might be causing your distress.
For example, if you notice that you always feel bad after work, then it might be helpful to look at your work schedule to see if there are any changes that could be causing your stress.
How To Track Your Mood Trends
If you’ve been struggling with your emotional health, you know how hard it is to do anything when your moods reach extremes. That’s where tracking trends comes in. By monitoring your mood markers, you’ll be better able to tell when things may be heading in the wrong direction.
What kinds of things can you track?
- Thoughts: Are your thoughts negative or positive?
- Behaviors: Are you staying busy or avoiding things?
- Physical symptoms: headaches, stomach problems, etc
- Sleep: How much (or little) sleep you’re getting
- Energy levels
- And even your activity levels
There are a few different ways to track your mood, but one of the best ways to keep a record is with a daily mood journal or checklist. If you prefer going electronic, there are several good mood tracking apps available such as Moodfit or Daylio.
Use whichever method you’ll complete consistently for the best indicators of your mood trends. And by keeping track of your mood patterns, you’ll be able to address any shifts before they reach full-blown mood or mental health meltdown.
7 Mental Health Self-Care Musts to Proactively Manage Your Moods
When you’re in a full-blown mental health crisis, it can be hard to deal with anything, even self-care. That’s why you’ll want to start using these methods when you notice a troubling trend – or before one even starts. Research shows that self-care can help keep your mood more balanced and manageable, especially when you take a proactive approach.
Here are 7 effective mental health self-care methods you can try:
Keeping up with self-care regularly, and ramping up when you notice a mood trend, can help you manage your emotional health more effectively,
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