What a Difference a Year Makes

Last January I was frantic. Snow - lots of snow - was falling, and ice coated the roads for days. And I had to drive in it.

This January, I haven’t been worrying as much. Temperatures have been too warm for snow or ice (thank goodness!), and a few days have felt more like spring. And it’s not just the lack of of bad weather causing me to worry less.

So just what has helped me to worry less, you ask?

Well, this blog. And just think - I almost didn’t create it.

A year ago, I debated (okay, more like worried) about starting this blog. I enjoy writing, so I wanted to create an avenue that would allow me to not only do what I love to do, but also express my concerns and maybe help other worrywarts along the way. Writing is therapeutic, so what better way to help myself break the habit of worrying? Of course, I had concerns about creating a blog. Would people like it? Would people understand my concerns? Would people, especially worrywarts, be able to relate? Would it be safe to post information about myself on the Internet for all to see? Would I have enough material for a blog? Would my advice help people? Would I be able to take my own advice? Would I--

Okay. You get the point.

Now that it has been one year since I created “Worrywart Tales,” I can say that I’m glad I started the blog and I think it has helped me tackle my worry habit. It also feels good knowing that maybe - just maybe - my experiences and suggestions are helping others.

My worrying definitely has decreased in the last year, thanks to not only the blog, but also the new techniques I’ve tried since last January. I can’t tell you how much the imagery and worry time techniques have made a difference in the past few months. And if it weren’t for the blog, I don’t know if I would have been as motivated to attempt them.

It really is incredible to look back and see how far I have come in a year. Every time something went wrong or I thought it could go wrong, I acted as if the world were coming to an end. Now, at least I don’t act like that every time. In fact, just the other day my husband and I were watching the news and the meteorologist announced that a tornado watch had expired.

“Hmm,” I said, shrugging. “I didn’t even know we were under a tornado watch!”

To Do List: Worry

Schedule a time to worry.

When I first heard this advice, I thought it would be impossible to follow. Scheduling a time to worry would mean I was giving myself permission to worry. And why would I do that? Wasn’t my goal not to worry?

After much skepticism, I decided to try this technique about a month ago. And believe it or not, I have seen surprising results!

The first week I had a worry time for 30 minutes each day. At first, I wasn’t sure when I should set aside time to worry. In the morning? During my lunch break? After work?

It turns out after work was the best time for me to worry. Why? Well, because every time I had a worrisome thought during the day, I told myself, “You can’t think about that now. You can think about that during your worry time later tonight.”

When 8:00 appeared on the digital clock, I began to worry. All of the anxious thoughts that I had tossed aside during the day came back to me, and I discussed them (okay, more like spilled them) to my husband. As 8:30 neared, my husband warned me, “You have only five more minutes left to worry.” Then, “You only have one more minute to worry,” he would say.

Miraculously, unnecessary thoughts made their escape from my mind at the end of the worry time. I was then free to live my life without any cares - until the next worry time.

This routine happened for about a week. Then, something amazing happened: I didn’t care to worry!

Once I started to train my brain to be more positive, my worrying started to decrease. During the second week of this exercise, I continued to tell myself during the day that I could worry about anything during my worry time. But then when my worry time came, I either forgot what I had been worrying about or I felt so good that I didn’t want to ruin my good mood with worrying!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still worry. I just haven’t been worrying as much or as often.

This technique, coupled with the imagery technique (I imagine I am throwing away my worries), has helped me greatly. While I have seen much improvement, I still need practice. Hopefully, with time, not worrying about insignificant things will become second nature.