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At the end of a long day, it can be influential to reflect over the events of the day and take some time to analyze everything that happened and how you feel about it. What were the good parts? What made them so good? What were the not-so-good parts? Why were they upsetting? Were the problems fixed, or do you need to make a plan to work towards a solution? How can you do that? Do you need to ask for help?
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Having answers to these questions at the end of the day can make it a lot easier to fall asleep quickly without worrying about what tomorrow is going to bring. Even if you don't have definite answers to every question, it can help to just consider them and try to identify the reason for specific negative feelings and experiences. It puts you in control of your problems and helps you to feel more secure and ready for a new day.It organizes the worrisome thoughts and helps to keep your mind clear.
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As someone who lives with general anxiety disorder, I know that it can be difficult to get rid of intrusive thoughts that pop into your head, especially after a long and tiring day that didn't go as you hoped it would. But addressing your problems and working towards a solution puts you in the driver's seat, and it's a big step towards feeling better.
For example, say that this afternoon you had hoped to finish a big, somewhat-frightening assignment for school. You scheduled an hour in the afternoon to work on it, but when you actually sat down to do it, you couldn't concentrate. You decided to put some music on - you know,to have in the background while you worked - so you opened YouTube and put on your favourite song. An hour and a half later you opened your eyes and you had finished none of your assignment, watched fifteen videos about cats getting scared by their reflections instead, and your mom was calling you for hockey practice in fifteen minutes. Great.
At night before bed, you are irritable, tired, and upset. You know that you are in a bad mood, but you don't know why. You decide to reflect over the events of your day and see if you can figure it out. You figure that you are tired because of hockey practice, which makes sense.
When you think about why you might be irritable, you start to think about your unfinished assignment and how you are going to have to complete it tomorrow and you really don't want to. When you ask yourself why, you think about all of the little things that you need to do to finish the assignment, and realize that you are scared that you might forget to do something important and get a bad mark. That also explains why you were so keen to procrastinate earlier with all your YouTube-watching.
You decide that before you start to work on your assignment tomorrow, you are going to make an organized list of everything you need to do to complete it. Suddenly, you are not so scared of it anymore, and you are not so irritable or upset either.
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See how that was helpful? If you take some time at the end of every day to analyze your feelings, it can be very beneficial and improve your mental health. At the end of every day, it is also nice to just remind yourself that you are loved, you are not alone, and that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes and has the potential to be much better than today.
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Sincerely,
Fifteen
*I DO NOT TAKE CREDIT FOR ANY OF THE QUOTES,PICTURES, SONGS, OR SCREENSHOTS OF POSTS THAT I INCLUDE IN MY BLOG. SOME OF THEM CREDIT THEIR OWNER IN THE SCREENSHOT, SOME OF THEM DO NOT CITE A SOURCE, BUT I DO NOT CLAIM THEM TO BE OF MY OWN MAKING. I SHARE THEM HERE BECAUSE THEY EXPLAIN WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY BETTER THAN I CAN WITH MY OWN WORDS, BUT I DO NOT CLAIM THEM TO BE MY OWN.
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