Feeling stressed, depressed, overwhelmed? Try this.

 Hi There,

This really worked for me, so I thought I'd share.

Just a bit of background, I had a very traumatic birth with my daughter Emma, she actually stopped breathing for a minute after I had her (she turned right before she was about to come out and came out feet first). This led me down a very dark road, for months I struggled with Postpartum Depression. I couldn't bond with her because I had this constant worry that she would somehow be taken away from me.

So I did what I was supposed to do and headed off to the doctor, who put me on anti anxiety and anti depression tablets. This was all well and good but it didn't feel like it was working, after changing meds twice in 10 months I went back to the doctor and was put on a different anti depressant. I waited the 2-4 weeks for the new medication to work its way into my body and still nothing.

Then I remembered something a dear friend had told me about months prior, her son has ADHD and his therapist advised that the entire family keep a B.E.E.T journal. 

B- Biological : what is going on in your physical body? Did you get enough sleep last night? Did you exercise today? What did you eat? Are you sick?

E- Emotions : What were the emotions you felt today? Sad? Depressed? Happy? Joy? Stressed? 

E- Environment : This factors in everything around you. Were your colleagues difficult today? Was your space around you clean (home or office)? Was your spouse in a good mood? Were your kids kicking off and throwing tantrums?

T- Thoughts : What thoughts did you have today? This is your self talk and it is so important that we pay attention to this because, your thoughts become things, they impact your mood, they set the standard for your day. They literally become who we are and how we react to every single situation.

Then you rate your day out of 10.

So I decided I was going to start this B.E.E.T journal for myself, to take with me to my doctors office and go "see these meds also aren't working!" but something amazing happened around day 5, I started to notice my emotions and thoughts were shifting from negative to positive. Now this wasn't just because I was doing this journal, what I combined with this was, I'd analyse what my emotions and thoughts were for that day and find a guided meditation on YouTube to directly counteract them. 

As an example, if my thoughts were about feeling self conscious about my body, Id do a meditation on self love and body acceptance. You can find Millions of guided meditations online. If I see a negative thought pattern, I do a meditation on a positive mindset.

Now I know we're all moms and that means time is limited BUT remember you cannot pour from an empty cup! I do my B.E.E.T journal and meditation every night after I've got my 11 month old to bed. Its 20 minutes out of a 24 hour day that is just for me. I sit in the dark room with my phone as a torch, write my journal, analyse it and then find a 10 minute meditation.

I am by NO means saying, stop ANY medication. I am still on my anti depressants and anti anxiety meds and I wont go off them until advised and guided by my doctor. But this simple act of journaling and meditation has completely changed my thought patterns and emotions. I now catch myself when I hear a negative thought, ask myself "how is this thought serving me?" and stop myself from going down that path.

Give this a try, its 20 minutes and you deserve AT LEAST 20 minutes of self reflection and love.