I did this exercise last year and you wouldn’t believe the stress I eliminated with this one simple step. See how easy it is:
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 #2 challenge:
Day #2– 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…
- The house doesn’t stay clean.
- That my husband and I don’t spend enough time talking together.
- That we don’t have enough money.
- School is taking too much of my time.
- I’m losing touch with my friends.
- For the foreseeable future I’m always going to be tired.
- That my career is too demanding for me (see #6).
- My husband and I don’t have enough bow-chicka-wow-wow time.
- My grandparents are getting older and I don’t see them often enough.
- 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…
- The house doesn’t stay clean.
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.- That we don’t have enough money.
School is taking too much of my time.I will graduate in May. I am almost there!- I’m losing touch with my friends.
- For the foreseeable future I’m always going to be tired.
- That my career is too demanding for me (see #6).
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.- My grandparents are getting older and I don’t see them often enough.
- 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. Remember that commenting on each post in the challenge enters you in the drawing for a $25 Visa gift card.
After looking over my worry list, I croised out the following:
1)I am not a good enough mother- I know that I am being the mother my daughter NEEDS me to be.
3)I worry that I will never get the college education I promised myself- I am a mom but I have done everything Ive ever said I was going to do and like those things, my education will take TIME
6) I worry about my blog’s success- Once again, that will take time!
Uhmmmmm …… I don’t have 10 worries …. Honestly as a single working mother living 4 hours from friends and family I take each day as it comes …. If I took the time to worry about anything then I would never finish or accomplish all the other things.
Right now my biggest worry in life is my health but Im not going to cross that off even as I actively am fixing it.
Worry takes too much time and I don’t have enough time in my day to give it …..
@Tamaira – Good for you! Today’s challenge is obviously for the mamas who haven’t gotten there yet.
Do you know that I use to worry/stress sooo much about things in high school and college that I would break out in full body hives …. Apparently according to the doctor when I stress to much my blood produces histamines and causes me to basically have a full blown allergic reaction to myself …. LMAO!!! How about that for life!!
Ummmm the same thing used to happen to me in high school! I would get hives all over my thighs and would just scratch them as every panicky thought floated through my head!
its horrible and crazy ….. sorry you had/have to suffer with it. Once those hives/whealts started popping up and lasting for days I needed to did a new calming/unstressed way of life ….
Apparently I worry a lot. >sigh< About a lot of stuff that I can't change anyway. So this was indeed a great assignment.
1. That I won’t have enough money: I have enough money to pay my bills today, I cannot stress about tomorrow, to do so will result in NOT having enough money (The Secret 😉 )
2. That I won’t ever go to graduate school and instead will be stuck in a profession I hate: I have a meeting next week regarding my future in graduate school! I am actively researching jobs I want to make a decision about what degree to pursue!
3. That people do not see I am a happy, gracious, loving, and caring person: It isn’t any of my beeswax what other people think about me! I cannot control anyone’s thoughts,mi can only control my own thoughts and work towards consistency between by thoughts and actions and behaviors.
Now, the task is to seriously STOP worrying about the above obsessions! I feel that based on my list and what i know about myself, I chose three worries that I can realistically control
Great challenge!
This is a great exercise, I don’t want to share my list but I did cross the following things off.
2. Keeping the house clean (I just bought a cleaning service coupon on groupon and them list them alllll the time)
6. My Weight (I just started weight watchers and I just need to stick to the plan and stop worrying day to day. I need to think long term)
8. I have new found down time and I am boring myself to death (pick up a hobby or hit the gym but either way stop complaining)