Should I be tracking my moods?
Hello Readers! Have you ever felt like you are “going through the motions” and are constantly feeling different things? Ultimately leading to inconsistent feelings or even experiencing moods that are constantly swinging up and down, never really staying stable for long? If any of the above are relevant to you, you could benefit from tracking your moods.
What does tracking my mood do?
Tracking your mood may feel a little monotonous, and you may even question how it will benefit you. So many of my patients come to me and share that they feel their moods are constantly swinging side to side, up and down, or simply “all over the place”. Though it may not seem helpful, I promise that by tracking your moods you will gain so much insight and potentially even begin to feel better by utilizing this one tool.
By tracking your mood you are able to accomplish three goals.
The first goal you accomplish is the ability to accurately acknowledge specific feelings you are having. So often, we are only able to identify one of the basic feelings (mad, sad, happy, scared, powerful and peaceful), but are unable to find the specific feelings such as discouraged, empowered, inadequate, etc. The more specific you are, the easier it is to truly acknowledge what you’re feeling, process, and move forward to a mental space you’d like to be in.
The second goal you accomplish is the ability to know and understand what your baseline is. Your baseline is the mood you are in when you are not experiencing any ups or downs. It’s important that we know what our baseline is in order to better understand when we are experiencing moods that might be considered as “high” or “low”.
Finally, the last goal you accomplish will be identifying patterns from your different moods and the frequency in which they occur. By identifying your patterns, it allows you to learn what your triggers are and gives you the opportunity to utilize coping skills when being triggered rather than struggling to manage your emotions when experiencing heightened feelings at the peak of a crisis.
How do I track my mood?
You may be reading this article and thinking that tracking your mood would be a good reflective tool for you to utilize. But, now you may be wondering what the best way to track your mood is? There are a couple different options.
I always encourage my patients to have a therapy journal where you can not only track your sessions, questions, thoughts, etc., but can also serve as a traditional journal for you to write in. If you are writing in your journal on a regular basis you can also include some mood tracking. First things first, with journaling, I always encourage patients to set up an attainable goal regarding frequency. Though we would all love to write in our journal every single day, that may not be something you can commit to right off the bat. So, I always recommend starting small, accomplishing that goal, then adding more as time goes on. Typically, I recommend starting with 2-3 times a week. You can either set aside a specific time and day to write in your journal, or simply make sure to check in that many times each week. You also have options when it comes to filling in your journal with mood tracking. You can make your own “template” and document the feelings you are having, the thoughts that are connected to those feelings, and how you respond to them. If that seems too daunting, there are also templates that you can find online and print out and insert into your journal.
If journaling isn’t something that interests you, then there are other options for you to choose from. If you prefer keeping track of things virtually or via your phone, there are a variety of different apps that you can use. Some of the apps available include:
Daylio: this app allows you to track your feelings by simply watching video clips and choosing which clip you connect with on an emotional level. There are also different components within the app that allow you to jot down notes, mark on a calendar, etc.
eMoods: this app is more specific towards individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This app allows the user to rank their emotions (the top common feelings of bipolar disorder such as mood, irritability, and anxiety) on a four-point scale. Ranging from mild to severe. There are also several other components available to help better manage bipolar symptoms and medications.
MoodTrack Diary: this app allows users to track emotions regularly and multiple times a day. This app is special in that it displays the user’s mood ratings on a colorful graph allowing the user to potentially see patterns and triggers from the graphs.
These are not all of the apps available, but these are all accessible via iOS and Android systems.
It’s important to remember that tracking your moods may be a little difficult to maintain at first, as you are adding an extra task to your daily routine. However, by practicing it regularly you give yourself the opportunity to turn this into a very healthy and regular habit. Though you may not see positive results immediately, make sure to give it some time and we promise you will gain valuable insight into yourself and how your mind and body works! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, or even ideas for our next blog, feel free to reach out!
