Stop......Worry Time!

Want to decrease the amount of time you’ve been worrying? Schedule “worry time” by “parking it on post it”. The unfortunate truth is that we will probably never be able to completely stop worrying. However, we can learn to worry more effectively. This is where scheduled worry time comes in.

It may sound counterintuitive, but employing this CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) tool can help you develop control over the frequency and timing of your worry.

How do you do this?

1. Worry Awareness – recognizing when we experience worry thoughts through becoming aware of what’s happening in the present moment, in this case, it’s noticing the worrying thoughts. This process takes practice, so don’t give up too quickly or easily. Awareness is the first step, then we try to except that we are in fact worrying. Do not judge yourself! Judging is for the birds. 🦜

2. Set up worry time. It literally is a time of day in which you have dedicated to worry. I suggest not super close to bedtime, but a time that enough of the day has devolved. By compartmentalizing worry – setting aside a specific half hour. Each day to think about worries and consider solutions then people can ultimately help reduce those worries.

3. Between the scheduled worry times is when “Park it on a Post-it” is implemented. This will feel hard at first and you may have to reinforce some self talk (like telling yourself to just let go of this thinking until you’re worried time. Or that you’ll definitely get to it later). This whole step ensures that a part of you that’s worrying gets attention and is seen, yet also it isn’t consuming what you really want to be doing which is *not* worrying. Our goal is to become more comfortable with the discomfort of the unknown by not feeding worry and also by fortifying a connection to your here and now experience (remember, worry is about the future).

4. Break it down, Stop, Worry time! (Sung in MC Hammer tune.) Go over your post it notes or “worry list“ during this time. If the thoughts that you wrote down are still bothering you, allow yourself to worry about them, but only for the amount of time that you’ve specified for your worry.

Thank you @gettyimages and of course @mchammer