I tracked my mood every day for one year. 

I'm backkkkk! And I'm a dad now! More on that later 🙂

Waiting for the “I’ve been a Dad for 30 days” video! Congrats, your content always makes my day! 🎉💯

I was diagnosed with Bipolar 1 (well managed, these days), general anxiety disorder and a collection of other alphabet soup diagnoses. I’ve been tracking my moods and habits for almost four years now. I digitized all of my records, inputting them into a spreadsheet sorted by year, divided into months and days, so on, a few years ago. In the beginning, my chart was fairly simple. I assigned a designation of 1-10 to each day, subdividing 1-4 as a “dangerous” or “evaluate and reflect category”, 5-7 as a fairly normal oscillation range, 6 as a baseline, and 8-10 as a “monitor and check in with yourself”/mania category. Over the years, I’ve added stats like my weight, if I’ve done drugs or drank alcohol that day, if I had sex that day, how many meals I’ve eaten, a section for mood triggers and stressors, a section for my weight (divided into healthy and unhealthy ranges, I lose weight quickly in depressive states), as well as a section for medication changes, abnormal spending patterns, notes from therapy, etc. I think I track almost 60 datapoints these days. Having almost four years of data at my fingertips, in that much detail, is transformative for bipolars and those suffering other mental health conditions. I’m able to pinpoint seasonal fluctuations and dips, notice when mania or depression may be kicking in, keep a tab on why I’m sleeping poorly or too much, draw correlations between lifestyle habits and mental health effects-it’s transformative. This tool should be employed by ANYONE struggling with, or managing, their mental health.

I did the same (I'm a statistician and couldnt resist). Main findings: - How I feel in the morning does not tell how I will feel in the evening - Extraordinary things considered amazing by the public make my life rich, but do not influence my current hormon-based happiness. Do not feel disappointed if you experience something extraordinary yet do not feel "simply" happy. - Getting useful things done is my key driver for happiness. To that end, define your tasks the evening before and wake up knowing what to do. - Gratitude exercises are frustratingly effective.

Congratulations Matt! I know it's super weird to be so invested in someone's life but having followed you for such a long time, it has been incredible seeing your journey (and learning a lot along the way) and have nothing but gratitude and best wishes for you and your family. I am sure plenty of your followers feel exactly the same. Now when do we get the How To Minimalist Dad video?!

The 'keywords' part of your tracking reminds me of "Homework for Life" (if anyone has seen the TED talk / heard ppl like Ali Abdaal talk about it). Basically it's if you had to give a 5 minute story from your day, what was the most storylike moment? and you write down notes for each day. The creator said it was the greatest gift he did for himself and that he soon began to see that his life is full of many stories (even the mundane moments), his life/days started to slow down, and he started to see more beauty and importance in his life than you didn't before. Been doing it for most of this year and definitely want to combine that with mood tracking!

I used Daylio religiously while I started getting treatment for my bipolar disorder. Through tracking my mood, I became more self-aware and identified my triggers and my coping strategy. I loved it. 😊 Congrats on being a dad!

I don’t know what it is, but there’s something in you that just attracts people to your channel, is it the style? The voice tone? The Sense of humor? The video making? Idk but thank you so much for being a RU-vidr and an influencer it is the right place for you, keep moving forward❤

We missed you, and congratulations on fatherhood! It’s a great idea to track your mood and feelings, it’s so easy to get caught up in the moment, but there’s definitely a value in recognizing trends, so that you can take action on them :)

Watching this now, curious about your findings. I've found quitting tracking my mood was one of the best things I've done for my mental health. I had gotten way too obsessed with feeling good, and it made me feel bad all the time. Allowing myself to feel bad (not having the goal to feel happy) ultimately made me feel good again.

Congrats on being a dad! Welcome to the club 😁 I've been tracking life metrics for the past 3-4 years, things like number of steps, if I ate dessert, whether or not I did something creative, etc. While my intent was to pull trends and see how I could improved (I did that for the first two years), now I use it more as a to-do list. With years I've added metrics and narrowed my scope to only track a dozen attributes, instead of the double. And I reward myself for successes. Every time I achieve my objective (wrote 100 words for my novel, which is all written now, btw), a formula adds $0,25 or $0,10, according to the difficulty. And when I want to buy a video game or a CD, I don't feel guilty, because I've earned it. 😀

Dang what a good video!! I'm always so impressed by your edits, filming and content but this means a lot and has a great lesson! Also congrats on being a dad!

Your videos are the few videos where I do not skip through the ad reads because I genuinely enjoy them, so thanks for that 😊

I was starting to rewatch old videos cause I needed more DAvella in my life, and here you are with a brand new video, yay!

I’ve been following for forever! Your videos inspire me, thank you for everything you do and congrats for the fatherhood

Congrats Matt!

Congratulations to you and Nat on being new parents!🎉

Welcome back Matt! Happy to have you back, wishing you and your new family the best of luck :)

I love your video-making so much that I DON'T skip the ADs. Your videos are brilliant Matt :)

CONGRATULATIONS 🥳🥳 You are both going to be amazing parents, no doubt !!

I can't believe the timing of this video. I've been tracking my health/mood for two years now and want to analyze it. Great stuff!

Congratulations on becoming a dad. I also absolutely love your type A personality and editing skills are top notch!

I appreciate the simplicity of your scale and summary together. I think this is a great snapshot of a day without being cumbersome.

Watching Matt's videos has it's own ritual. It's awesome to consume content with high quality! Always appreciate!

Congrats on the baby Matt. This is awesome news.

Matt I cannot begin to emphasise just how much I love your videos. The content, the flow, the animations, the b rolls, the cinematography…. It’s just so clean and wholesome. In some strange, ridiculous way (one that I don’t completely understand) it makes me want to be a better man. Thank you Matt for all you do and create. You’re inspiring generations. And congratulations on becoming a father to both you and Nat! Wish you both all the happiness and health in the world!

Such a great video, love it! I have been tracking my mood for the last 5 years or so. I don't do it everyday but I do it once or twice a month. What has worked for me is I divide my feeling in 8 parts - career, home, love life, friends, family, investments, self improvement and health. Over time I can see which things needs the most help and I focus on that. This allows me to gain better self awareness (as you mentioned) and help work on my weakest link first.

Great to see you again! You hit it out of the ballpark with this episode ❤

Love it specially the crashing wall that literally has come to my mind when kids are yelling husband is sitting in the coach I’m at the ending of the day tired trying to Get dinner ready 💯 relatable Thank you.

I am always excited when you updated a new video. I really like your work.

I love his content and dedication! How he makes every of our imaginations into reality wow.

This was one of the more interesting videos you’ve done for me. Well done! This along with time tracking in my calendar is something I want to try now.

Dude, been following you for years, love the content and keep up the good work

1:44 Wow 😮 you're becoming a parent? So happy for you Matt, now this will be the new chapter of your life! Wish you luck in life ❤

You’ve been dearly missed Matt. ❤ congratulations to Nat and you 🎉

The way you figured out how to rate your day and the "year end" review process you showed was extremely helpful! Those were the parts I always struggled with these types of trackers.

This is such a cool and precious concept

Fascinating insight, so thanks for 1) commiting to this, and 2) sharing it with us. It really does show that we go through chapters in life; not just the BIG ones, but smaller periods that can last days or even hours. We are so utterly human, and so much of what we do (and ARE) centers around our emotions.

This is the best video I've seen from you in months, I think it's great, I love it

Such a dime of a video like always. So happy your back and congrats on being a new dad!!☺️👏🏻

Ohh this is so fun to see! I've been using Daylio for close to 3 years now and it has helped me so much with gaining more awareness. I can much more easily spot when I'm in a funk, which means something needs to change. And on the other hand I can also realize when things are good, and I can be thankful about those good periods!! And congrats to you and Nat! Can't wait to hear more about the dad-life

Gosh what an awesome video! Always delivering quality, Matt! Thanks for the insight. You’ve inspired me to track my mood daily too!!!

Who else really loved the drywall scene at 0:11…congrats Matt and Nat…..

So happy to see your videos, Matt! 😊

Congrats! I'm expecting in November. Being a Dad is great😊

Congratulations 🥳

Congrats. Its always worth the wait with your work .....

As always ,,, making us better through sharing your experience .

Love this video! Thanks Matt and welcome back 😊

I’m happy to hear that. Congrats 😊

Can't wait to see your new content with a Matt D'Avella junior! Very inspiring channel. Congrats Matt and fam

Welcome back Matt, great to see you again

I absolutely loved this video! i feel inspired me to start tracking my mood and journaling now

Such quality content on this chanel🩷🩷🩷 Congrats Matt💗💗

Just the best. The best. The best content.

Congrats on upcoming baby! I legit giggled when you played the party horn noise. Not sure why I thought it was so funny. Keep crushing it Matt! You’re my role model.

Congratulations Matt! I’m sure you’re gonna be a great dad and husband ❤

As always, SUPER HELPFUL and INTESRESTING.

Your content is just SO good!! Whenever a watch it I feel inspired to change something in my life and become a better person/professional. I feel like I haven’t yet but maybe this is the video that will change that 😅

Welcome back Matt!!! Great video as always!!!

Can’t wait to hear about your bambino!!! Congratulations 🎉

Matt, you are doing amazing work. Really learning a lot from you. Regarding the video, I don't track my mood but I do try to track the things I do every day. One thing I do struggle with most of the days is trying to find satisfaction or fulfillment or in your connotation, fun. Furthermore, please don't bang your head for any reason. It is really bad for the brain. Cheers.

Very timely bit of content for me. Thanks for the perspective!

Congratulations for your baby! 😃🥰😘

The commitment to the dry wall bit 🤣🤣🤣🤣

good to see you again, Matt!

Great video and subject! And congratulations for the baby!

As always soo inspiring and shown in such a satisfying videography way, thank u soo much❤❤❤

Loved this video, as always. This is an interesting experiment, and I'll also add this element to my daily journal spreadsheet. Thanks for the inspiration Matt !!

I was waiting for your videos so bad man. Looking forward to seeing you in my feed next week🤗

Yay! Our boi is back

5:25 What app are you using for tracking? I downloaded Daylio but does not look the same. I do like Daylio though! The graph looks similar, but the lines go vertically instead of horizontally

thanks for making this vid! I'm using the google sheet logging to help keep my days focused

Congratulations, both 😊

Great job Matt! Beautiful video

After watching this I decided to add a mood tracker from -2 to +2 on my notion journal I already have created! Easy enough I just added a new property and have a timeline view sorted for mood. That's the closest I can get without paying for daylio (which I have fallen off of and had so many notifications I ignored). I probably won't do everyday for a full year but having that there will be good to know. Thanks!

All kinds of good takeaways here. And good on ya for taking some time off for the family. I’m betting that will play into the happiness metrics moving forward.

Thanks Matt, great video 😌💯

Matt's dedication to tracking his mood for a year is truly inspiring. It's fascinating how our emotions can ebb and flow over time, and this practice can provide valuable insights into our mental well-being. I appreciate how he not only shares his journey but also sparks conversations among viewers about their own experiences with mood tracking. Congrats to Matt on becoming a dad as well - a new chapter full of emotions to track and cherish!

THANK YOU, this was simply inspiring🙏🏼

congratulations🥳🥳

Tear is roiling down my cheek. What mood is this? I can smile.

Man I loved this video! Thank you Matt

- I just want to let anyone who’s reading this, and going through a tough time know that it’s going to be okay. You’ll get through it! ✨

Welcome back!

You're awesome! Looking forward to more dad-role content. Thank you!

Couldn't find a Patreon so words of affirmation it is! Love this channel, been subscribed for 4+ years, I constantly use the knowledge from your videos to better structure my ever changing life. Thank you for such great content! Also should have got a daylio link as I'm now trying this but I could never do it on paper would lose my mind!

I did a mood tracker where I had to write, for three years and it's incredible. I went from a huge mess to feeling a relative okay mood.

Your videos are so inspiring... great job!

I watched a Matt D'Avella video today, so my chart will say "fun" for today 😂 Hope Natalie is good and the baby too.

Every mood has an activity to see it through satisfaction.

This was very inspiring. Thank you. Also i like the end of the video

What a great video! Thank you so much! I'm going to implement it into my life.

Welcome back!!!

amazing vid per usual, Congrats on being a dad !!!

Amazing data content

Congrats Matt! Nice to see you back..I'm also a dad now to my daughter Summer☺️

actually it's a good ideas i'll try to do that. i like your videos so much 💯

you never fail to make wholesome content

I used dailyo for a couple of years and recently for a few months (though I quit again). It really helped me understand that even if today is horrible and I can't hold back my tears things do get better with time. It gave me hope by showing me that my emotional state was more like a rollercoaster and not a deep hole. Why did I quit? My mood finally felt stable and most days were a 1. I no longer needeed it.