All day, every day: Its stress oclock.
To accomplish this, set aside a designated time to do nothing but stress.
Isnt that a recipe for spiraling?
Stressful thoughts find a way to intrude and disrupt your daily life.
Mark it in your calendar, set a reminder, and dont bail on yourself.
To start out, carve out 15 or so minutes once a week.
When your scheduled worry break rolls around, its time to stress.
But the key is to stress constructively.
venture to get your worries down in words.
Writing them down in list form is daunting, but an excellent practice in perspective.
Next, dedicate time to each item on your list.
Circle the ones that are ostensibly in your control.
For instance, my purpose in life is a tad too abstract to tackle in this 15 minute session.
However, something like making time for my family is a starting place for creating actionable solutions.
For each stress item, give a shot to brainstorm several potential solutions, e.g.
ask ____ for help or schedule a proper date night.
In this case, coping strategies also count as a solution.
Look into ways to manage your stress,like the 15 ideas listed out here.
What aspects of this concern are in and/or out of my control?
What mental hang-ups are making this stress worse?
How would I approach this if I had unlimited time and resources?
What is getting in the way of me overcoming this hurdle?
How do I really feel about this stress?
What is the ideal outcome in this situation?
What is a first step I can take?
These questions are all launch points for brainstorming action items and coping strategies.
Remember that your goal is to transform abstract, overwhelming worries into bite-sized solutions.
One final note: Once the time goes off,force yourself to switch gears.
