Tracking Your Mental Health Progress

The road to mental health “recovery” can sometimes feel like a long and treacherous hike. As you are navigating through the thick forest that is depression or anxiety, it can be hard to keep perspective and see just how far you’ve come. It might feel like you’re making good pace only to get caught in quicksand, unable to free yourself, this is when reviewing your progress can be most helpful. Even if those around you begin commenting on the changes they’re seeing in you, it’s always nice to see the progress for yourself.

Keeping track of your mental health journey can be done in many way, here are a few to try out:

1) Long-term Journaling

Go out and grab a journal that you love and begin daily journaling. It doesn’t need to be a 30 minute daily exercise and you don’t need to pour your heart out across multiple pages, if you don’t want to. To begin, set aside anywhere from 3 – 5 minutes of your day to write down how you are feeling, how your day went and what you’re grateful for. Whenever you’re feeling extra vulnerable, have a look back through your passages to see how far you’ve come.

2) 12-Hour Check-ins

Similar to journaling, just on a shorter scale. Take time each morning when you wake up to write a half page passage in your journal and another half page before you go to bed. Outline your hopes for the day versus how it went and try your best to find a few things that went well during your day or that you’re grateful for. If you find that you’re constantly waking up in an anxious state, even before opening your eyes, This may help you examine your previous days and see how your outlook changes as the day plays out.

3) Go Digital

Not completely into the idea of putting pen to paper? An app may be more your speed. There are several apps out there to choose from, a quick google search for “mental health tracking apps” will give you a few options. One app that we’ve personally used is called Remente. The app offers specific plans tailored to your goals, as well as tracking options to help you monitor your progress. Our favourite aspect of the app is the wheel of life tracking. This pie chart allows you to track your satisfaction related to several different aspects of your life, including: love, money, friendship, work and more. You can edit this wheel every day to reflect how you’re feeling and monitor the progress as time goes by.