Many people with depression journal their thoughts. It is a good thing for me – it helps to build concrete thinking about important things. It can also be fun. Write about what inspires you and also write about what brings you down. You should share both with your therapist. As a want-to-be artist, I would often draw in my journal.
Some of the things I would journal were quite serious. Being in the city meant that I parked at McDonalds, Starbucks, or in a shopping mall parking lot. The worst place I parked was at Border Field State Park south of San Diego where I’m sure my plates were run by Border Patrol. It was always better to find a campground at scenic locations like State Parks or National Forests.
What bothered me about the cities was the vast number of homeless people. Many of the homeless people have mental illness and walk the streets at night; they look like dark silent beings roaming beside me in my “camper”. I would check that the doors were locked before I slept in the back of the bus. I journaled about this and talked to my therapist. I felt close to the edge and I didn’t want to get pulled in. I actually was closer to it than I wanted to be, peeing in a used coffee cup to later toss in the dumpster where I would see people camped nearby. Homelessness is a chronic problem in this country.
Other things to journal are your feelings, aspirations, successes, challenges, events of the day. I even journaled that I was able to make hot coffee!
