How journaling helps me remember what I wanna share with my doctors

I believe we all deserve both support and autonomy on our healing journeys.

I believe true holistic healing lives in multi-faceted approaches & a preventative yet present mindset. 

I believe in both the Earth-given and human-made practices & medicine.

I believe in a balance of receiving care from doctors and healers and community, while also maintaining out own autonomy of speaking up for what we know of our bodies.

I believe healing is a collaborative process of choice.

It's also often a process of trust.

It very much is a practice of noticing and being mindful.

My menstrual health connects to my mental health, and so does all my other layers of physical, spiritual & emotional wellness.

I feel lucky to finally have practitioners in my life who I can trust and who help me notice my needs. I know we don't all have this privilege. Whatever form of support you have, I hope you at least can remember that your own attention to your personal patterns and changes is valid and valuable.

If you do collaborate with practitioners in any regard, I wanted to share how I use Cycles Journal with my PCP / prescriber, my herbalist, my therapist, etc...

(I used to feel a lot of shame about needing external support, but now I know my multi-faceted biological needs are valid and are not a shortcut.)

Regardless of your situation, I hope this can inspire a sort of "check-in" meeting with yourself or someone you know and trust.

This is how I establish preventative care & advocacy, which requires a good memory. Which I lack much of the time since my brain is always in a thousand different places!

So here's what this neurodivergent brain does to remember;

1. I show up to track my experiences daily-ish without putting too much pressure on myself to analyze. (If I analyzed everyday I burn out or grasp before there's data)
   
   
2. Periodically, as I'm called or at least once a month (or however often you meet the person you're sharing this with), I will visit the "Check-in" pages (that show up within the daily pages every new moon cycle in Cycles Journal) to record my observations in relation to what my practitioner & I are trying to investigate (ie; how I slept and everything related to that... or how my moods have been, etc)
   
   
3. Sometimes I run out of space here so I expand into my Cyclical Notebook for easy cross-reference.
   
   
4. I make a reminder in my dear companion google calendar to pack my journal(s) the day before/of my appointment!
   
   
   1. If it's in person, I put them in my bag or by the door.
   2. If it's online, I put it by my computer.
      
      
5. As soon as I get into the waiting room (physical or zoom) I pull out my journal so I don't forget to use it during!
   
   

I'm curious if this sparked anything for you?

Do you use your journals or another system with your practitioners or other support systems?

Do you have a similar or different system?

I'd love to hear! Let's talk about it here; cyclicalcommunity.com.

Gratefully connected,
Rachael Amber (they/she)
of Cycles Journal / Cyclical Roots