Awareness & Journaling
How can you see that which you cannot see? I suppose the obvious answer is that if it’s not there, then you can’t see it and some might even argue if you can’t see it, well then it doesn’t exist. But to the contrary, there are so many things that are right in front of our eyes that we just don’t see because we lack awareness. In fact, there are life issues that have attached themselves to us like hungry piranhas chomping at our body and practically screaming at us to pay attention AND we still don’t see them.
When you are struggling with depression, anxiety, or just life in general it can nearly impossible to see things that are impacting you because most of your energy, thoughts, and feelings are being used up just trying to get through the day. And goodness knows when we are in a bad place the last thing we want to do is here the advice or opinions of others…because on one hand we don’t have the energy and on the other hand they just might be right. The problem is of course that when we lack awareness we can’t begin to know how to tackle the problems in front of us.
One of the things (yes they’re are many) we talk about here at Face It is that a path to awareness is to journal. When the idea of writing and keeping a journal is brought up, a typical response from a guy is “I don’t do that.” Well here is my usual response to that “You can do that, if you want.” And I am met with “Yeah but I don’t know what to write about.” And if a guy says that to me, well now we are getting somewhere. I completely understand that sitting down to write is a daunting and overwhelming task, but with any journey the hardest part is just getting started.
If you feel stuck and you’re aware that you have those piranhas attached to you, grab a pen and some paper. And start with a simple question, like “What did I do today?” From there you can answer this question “How did the things I do today make me feel?” From there you might lead into “What did I do today that was hard for me?” And next thing you know you’re asking yourself “What did I learn about myself today?” Pretty soon you’re off to Walmart for my paper and pens. I know it’s hard to get started, but I also know that getting started is way easier and productive than continuing to lack awareness. My hope for you is that you will give it a go!
Take Care!
Mark