“That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent”
Chinese Proverb
That is such an interesting quote to begin this post on. I am almost positive that if you are reading this post, you can relate to having your own little birds of worry flying around your head.
If you think of the mind as a highway, we have large amounts of cars, lorries, buses, etc driving back and forth; the revving of their engines (or in this case, our worries) creates noise – writing helps get rid of that extra noise allowing us hear our own voices. While this can be refreshing for some, for others they may feel uncomfortable being more aware of their own voice that was hiding, unnoticed under all the worries.
worry time
This probably at first glance sounds like the shittest time ever but let me explain. So, as humans living in the world in its current state it’s almost a given that the majority of our time is spent worrying about something. We are human, worrying is a totally normal and expected part of life but there is a threshold. When we cross over this line and worries start to spill over into everything else and we start to become overwhelmed and consumed by the worries flying around our heads, now that is when we have a problem – this is where worry time comes in…
what is worry time?
Worry time is literally that, it’s a time that is strictly designated for worrying. Instead of spending the whole day thinking bout the things we are worried about the idea is we reserve them for a specific time and give them our full attention for a short period of time and then move on, freeing up our head space for other things throughout the rest of the day. The act of writing your worries out allows you to momentarily put them down.
how do i do it?
Throughout the day, if you find yourself worrying about something – write it down. This can be on the notes app on your phone but ideally on paper as the physical act of writing is proven to help more than type but needs must and all that jazz. This gives your brain permission to let go of that worry for now and relax a bit in the knowledge that it’s being held on the paper to be held again later.
Later on, perhaps close to the end of the day review your list. Give yourself 15 minutes or so (not too long) and give your worries your full attention. You might find some of them have already resolved themselves throughout the course of the day, but those that are still prevalent you can work to come up with a solution for. Those that perhaps can’t be solved right now, maybe you don’t have the energy or the means and thats ok, you can tailor your solutions to accommodate you in that moment and anything that cannot be solved can be transferred to tomorrows list.
If you found this helpful, why not check out our other writing for mental health posts.
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