{Self-Care Challenge} Day #8 – Write A Worry List

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I know I’ve confused a bunch of you with today’s post. A little explanation, courtesy of Merriam-Webster:

Worry:

to subject to persistent or nagging attention or effort
to afflict with mental distress or agitation; make anxious
to feel or experience concern or anxiety
Eww, none of that sounds good, does it? “Afflict,” “nagging,” “anxiety.” Sounds like a breakdown waiting to happen. Worry is one of those things that just don’t help. Sincerely. There’s a saying that goes, “If you’re gonna pray, don’t worry. If you’re gonna worry, don’t pray.” It took me a long, long, long time to understand that worry is just a way of fretting about things, but not actually solving problems. Hence, the day #8 challenge:
Day #8 – Write a worry list. 
Go ahead and write down 10 things that you worry about frequently. Don’t ask questions—just do it. I’ll be a good sport and list mine for you.
I worry that…
  1. The house doesn’t stay clean.
  2. That my husband and I don’t spend enough time talking together.
  3. That we don’t have enough money.
  4. School is taking too much of my time.
  5. I’m losing touch with my friends.
  6. For the foreseeable future I’m always going to be tired.
  7. That my career is too demanding for me (see #6).
  8. My husband and I don’t have enough bow-chicka-wow-wow time.
  9. My grandparents are getting older and I don’t see them often enough.
  10. I’m never gonna travel!

Wow. That’s almost scary how quickly I came up with 10 items. SMH.

Now once you’ve written down the ten things you worry about, the next step is to delete three of these items. You’re deciding right here and right now that these are the things that you will no longer stress over or worry about. Come up with a concrete reason that you cease to worry about these items. Again, I’ll show you what I mean:

I worry that…
  1. The house doesn’t stay clean.
  2. That my husband and I don’t spend enough time talking together.  I will stop working at least 30 minutes before my husband goes to bed in order to have some time just to talk. 
  3. That we don’t have enough money.
  4. School is taking too much of my time. I will graduate in December. I am almost there! 
  5. I’m losing touch with my friends.
  6. For the foreseeable future I’m always going to be tired.
  7. That my career is too demanding for me (see #6).
  8. My husband and I don’t have enough bow-chicka-wow-wow time.  Not exactly sure what I’m going to do about this, I just know it’s not a problem on his end. :) 
  9. My grandparents are getting older and I don’t see them often enough.
  10. I’m never gonna travel!

See how easy that is? The goal is to get you feeling like a weight has been lifted. Too often, we stress about things that are in our control. Writing this list and deciding which items are no longer worth worrying about will give you confidence to take control of your life in the areas that count. So go ahead and write that list and tell me what you’re crossing off.

Comments

  1. This is a great idea! I have been missing out on this series because of exams (what else is new… -___-) But I am going to try and catch up!

  2. Great idea. I crossed off worrying about breastfeeding, my household budget and never having enough time in the day. I need to keep reminding myself that I have to let go of worrying about some things. My inner perfectionist is always creating mental havoc when I need to enjoy the things that I have.

  3. 1) i worry that i dont spend enough time with my daughter
    2)i worry that time is just passing me by without me stopping to enjoy my life
    3)i worry that i’ll never get back into school
    4) i worry that i wont get this blog of mine up and running
    5) i worry that i’ll never find “the one”