Write about it – diary, notebook, journal, poetry

Write about it – diary, notebook, journal, poetry

Feeling stressed, overwhelmed and unorganised? Grab a notebook or journal. Writing has long been used as a way to help us be more organised, reflect on our feelings, concerns and worries and to express ourselves. If you are finding you’re forgetting lots of things, you don’t know where to start with work or home jobs or you’re starting lots of things and never finishing them try keeping lists.

Tips for organisation:

1)   I tend to use my phone as much as possible to keep shopping lists and lists of things I need to do, as my phone is generally with me most of the time. This way I can delete the things I’ve done and add new things as they pop up throughout the day.  I also use stickies on the desktop of my laptop for work based to do lists or sticky notes stuck to the keyboard of my laptop.

2)   Prioritise your to do list. This is especially important in the work place or at home. You may have a huge list of things to do, but make sure you deal with the more immediate things first and put the things that can wait down the list. If you try to do everything at once, you will feel overwhelmed, stress and burnt out. Mums, this is especially important for you as babies and kids are unpredictable, so do the things that really need doing first like washing and having food in the house and save those other jobs like ironing and gardening for when you have a bit more time or have someone to help you.

3)   Have a small notebook handy. This is great at work, to take into meetings and to jot down ideas or things to do based on the meeting outcomes. It is generally not acceptable to be typing on your phone in a meeting so a notebook that has a cover (to keep notes confidential) is ideal.

4)   Have pens handy at all times. There is nothing more annoying than needing to write something down and you don’t have a pen. Keep some good quality pens handy at all times.

5)   If you are struggling to get to sleep as you feel you have so much to do, write it down before bed. This will help you feel better about not forgetting your to do list or anything important you need to present or discuss the next day.

Journaling is a very personal thing so I won’t give you too much guidance here. Generally you start with your initial idea and just write and see what happens. Some people like to write their thoughts and feelings as poetry, some people like to draw or write words, others write their thoughts or write stories. Make sure you have a pen you like writing with and a nice covered notebook, that your housemates know is just for you to read. Find what works for you and give it a try.