My Complete Diary: Season by Season: Five Aspects of Living

By Chrystal V. Benson RN MACN MACMHN

No matter what our health challenges, we all need to be able to take charge of our lives. But what we need even more is a practical way to gain insight into our health issues and then gauge how our lives are really going.

Chrystal Benson is a nurse who relies on her own life experiences and those of her clients to share a three-month diary that will help anyone track daily life activities, discover what is missing, recognize patterns that both serve and disrupt health and life, and then develop a plan to get back on track to better health, improve well-being, and maximize quality of life. Through a comprehensive diary, Chrystal guides others to accurately measure five aspects of living—diet, sleep quality, exercise, mood, and social contacts—and then ultimately repair or repeat patterns and habits accordingly. Included are Keeping Well and Relapse Prevention Plans that encourage others to ensure that their voices, beliefs, opinions, and attitudes are heard not just by themselves, but also by others.

My Complete Diary is a self-directed tool that encourages anyone to develop insight into how health issues impact their lives and then readjust behaviors, habits, and patterns to improve well-being.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Nov 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781504315135

Chrystal V. Benson RN MACN MACMHN

Chrystal Benson, RN, MACN, MACMHN is a clinical nurse specializing in mental health and drug and alcohol recovery. She is currently studying to earn a Master of Nursing in Leadership and Management from James Cook University. This is her first book. Chrystal lives in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

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Copyright © 2018 Chrystal V Benson, RN, MACN, MACMHN.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1509-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1513-5 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date:  10/22/2018

Contents

Your notes

Introduction

Month of January February March April May June July August September October November December

Month of January February March April May June July August September October November December

Month of January February March April May June July August September October November December

Extra Diary Page

Keeping Well Plan

Your Relapse Prevention Plan

Relapse Prevention Plan

If you are in crisis, call your country’s emergency phone number or attend your local hospital emergency department immediately.

Emergency numbers if you are in crisis and need immediate medical care

Australian Mental Health Crisis Phone lines (State by State)

Canada Mental Health Crisis Phone line 1-888-353-2273.

Web address for multiple crisis and support services state by state https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/mental-health-services/mental-health-get-help.html

New Zealand Mental Health Crisis Phone line is 0800 611 116.

United Kingdom Mental Health Crisis Phone line is 0800 068 4141.

United States of America Mental Health America is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Phone numbers are correct as of April 2018

Your notes

Contact persons & their phone numbers in case of emergency

Your Doctor

Your next of kin

Your case manager/counsellor/psychologist

Your specialist/clinic

Introduction

I work with clients who have chronic health, mental health, alcohol and other drugs issues. I created this three month diary to help track their own activities in daily life. I did this so that they could stay in charge of their quality of life. The World Health Organisation defines Quality of Life as an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns.

Mackay and others described a new model of health care based on developing self-care, self-understanding and taking personal responsibility for your own health. Often, clients have treated me like I was the expert on their health. I am not the expert on their health, they are. This diary helped them to develop understanding on how their health conditions impacted their quality of life, and helped me to help them, and it can help you too. From their self knowledge came changes.

Please use this diary to track the 5 Aspects of Living that act as a barometer for how your life is going. You can show this to your counsellor, psychologist, therapist, case manager or Doctor as a way of revealing what your life is like at home, at work, with family and friends. Often when we get into our therapy session or our Doctor’s appointment, we forget things that were important to communicate due to the normal anxiety we experience at that time. The diary acts as a prompt for your support person/s to ask questions and for you to share your activities since they last saw you. You can also use it to help advise them what you are planning to do until you see them again.

The 5 Aspects of Living are important measures to indicate how you are travelling in your life. They are:

• your diet – what did you eat and drink – how much and when;

• your sleep pattern and quality;

• exercise you have completed;

• your mood over the day; and

• your social contacts.

Each of these 5 Aspects reveal if things are on track in our self-caring behaviours. There are often anomalies that we don’t understand. These anomalies are normal experiences as long as they do not continue to occur repetitively or persist for long periods of time. Everything that you put into your body - food, fluids, thoughts, emotions, and movements - has an impact. Take charge of these.

If we don’t sleep well for many days at a time, something will give. If we are not eating well because we can’t stomach something, we will lose weight and condition, and our immune system will suffer and eventually fail. If we overeat, we lose freedom of movement in our body.

We exercise to feel good, but there are many other ways of feeling good.