How do you know if you worry too much? Is anxiety and worrying thoughts taking over your day?
If you find yourself unable to concentrate or complete tasks because your mind is spinning, then it is time to try some new tricks to help you get back on track.
Something that may help you is worry time.
Worry Time is a way to teach your brain to put your worries away into a separate compartment until it is time for you to address them.
Rather than worrying all the time, set aside 20 minutes per day for ‘worry time’. Write each worry that comes to mind on a piece of paper and put it in your worry jar, or even write a list on a piece of paper.
When your alarm goes off at the end of worry time, read each worry out loud. Are they as ‘real’ now as when you wrote them down? Perhaps some have completely disappeared. Throw your worries in the bin or burn them, ready to start afresh. Play around with the time of day you do worry time. For some people, just before bed works well, but for others, this can lead to a restless night.
If your worries are really intense, write them down as soon as you think of them but don't dwell on them. Just thank your brain for bring it to your attention and let it know you have written it down so you don't forget to address it later.
Whilst worry time works for adults, this is also a fantastic technique for children to learn as the magnitude of their worries begins to grow. What could start with worrying about not being able to find a friend to play with at lunch time can grow into bigger problems like exams, bullying, eating disorders, drug and alcohol use and depression. By having a way to identify and deal with these worries can lead to better communication with parents and other trusted people in their lives.
Within The Brain Sanctuary Family Journal, we also identify ways to rate your worries and outcomes so that you can discuss as a family what level a worry can get to before you need to call in extra help.
No one should suffer alone and worries can be all consuming and lead to many physical problems so finding a way to help manage them is essential.