My Personal Constitution

Values, principles, ambitions. Plus troubleshooting guides to anxiety, fear, and other fun emotions.

A few months ago, I started a new journal that I call My Personal Constitution. It is roughly divided in two themes:

The first covers values, principles, ambitions, hard-won wisdoms, rules of thumb, dos and don’ts. I refer to these whenever I’m lost in life, have to make a big decision, or I just feel like I’ve lost my mojo. It’s a reminder for what’s important to me.

The second is a collection of troubleshooting guides to when I’m feeling intense emotions. I know my triggers for emotions such as anxiety, fear, insecurity, nostalgia, boredom, envy, etc. Over time, I’ve developed step-by-step guides that help me regulate those emotions, and come back to a calm, equanimous state.

These troubleshooting guides are what I use most often. They remind me that Past Awais has already gone through a very, very similar thing and here’s how he got out of it and you can too! It includes thoughtful questions, reassuring reminders, and basic tactics for how to get out of a funk.

As a quick example, here’s my short guide to dealing with a general feeling of anxiety, straight from the journal:

Determine if I’ve had any of these in the last 24 hours:

• Poor sleep quality and quantity

• Eating too much

• Eating unhealthy

• Haven’t exercised

• Haven’t exercised intensely

• Haven’t been out in the sun

• Haven’t talked to close family or friends

• Haven’t had enough water

• Have had too much caffeine

• Haven’t prayed or meditated

• Haven’t vomit-journaled*

• Haven’t had a cold shower

• If late afternoon / early evening: have I taken a nap?

In essentially every case, if I go through the above, I can safely ignore the random issue I’m dealing with right now. Sleep on it, do the needful, and then consider it again tomorrow. You’re fine!

Here’s a glimpse at the journal:

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I’ve been journaling since I was in high school. It’s incredibly rewarding to see the arc of my character over decades. My favorite bit is flipping to a random old entry to 5, 7, 10 years ago. I always come across something that was extremely important to me then, but matters amusingly little now.

As of today, I have 4 differently themed journals: a general one for everyday writing, my personal constitution, old memories for documenting early childhood times before they get increasingly fuzzy, and a dream journal (which I’ll talk about another day).

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*Vomit-journaling is the act of just dumping all your unfiltered thoughts in a journal. No editing. Just keep writing until you run out of things to say. It’s very therapeutic, especially as part of your morning routine.