🍂 How to press pause on your worries

This week: Using the worry time technique to take control of your thoughts and free up mental space

“Worrying is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but it never gets you anywhere.”- Erma Bombeck

🍂 Hello friend,

Have you ever found yourself stuck in a loop of worry? One moment you’re thinking about a small concern, and before you know it, you’re spiralling into bigger, scarier thoughts. We’ve all been there. Worry can feel overwhelming, often growing in size the longer we sit with it, and sometimes it feels like we have no control over it at all.

I love today’s quote from Erma Bombeck because it's also such a vivid reminder of how we can sometimes feel like we’re doing something by worrying—when really, we're just staying in one place. It makes me smile and reminds me to be more intentional with my thoughts.

This week, we’re diving into one of the most effective tools for managing worry: the worry time technique. It’s a simple but powerful technique that helps us set aside our worries for a designated time, instead of letting them control our day. And yes, it sounds a bit counterintuitive – choosing to worry later? But it works.

Take a deep breath, and let’s explore how we can take back some of that mental space and feel calmer.

Let us know if you’ve tried any of the techniques we’ve been sharing by pressing the 💚 ‘like’ button or replying to this email.

Thank you, as always, for being here.

– Louise x

Photo by Ken Wiedemann

One small step to transform your day

This is where each fortnight we’ll share one small step you can take today that will move you closer to living more in the moment and worrying less.

🫶 Set aside your worry for later with the worry time technique

Actionable step: The next time you find yourself spiralling into overthinking or worrying about something you can't control, try using the worry time technique. It’s a simple yet powerful way to acknowledge your worries without letting them consume your entire day.

Here’s how it works:

1. Set a specific ‘worry time’: Choose a specific time during the day to focus on your worries, ideally for 15 to 30 minutes. This could be in the late afternoon or early evening, but not too close to bedtime. It’s important that you stick to this schedule each day, so you train your mind to save your worrying for later.

2. Postpone your worry: When anxious thoughts pop up during the day, write them down in a worry journal. This small act helps signal to your brain that you’ve acknowledged the worry and will deal with it later, freeing your mind to focus on the present task at hand.

3. Use your ‘worry time’ wisely: When your scheduled worry time arrives, sit down and look through the worries you noted earlier. Spend the next few minutes thinking through them, allowing yourself to worry intentionally during this time. Often, you’ll find that some of the things that felt urgent earlier no longer seem so important, or that you’ve gained some perspective.

4. Close your worry time: Once your worry time is up, put your worries away. Tell yourself that you’ve spent enough time on them for today and that you’ll address any lingering concerns during tomorrow’s worry time.

By scheduling a specific time to focus on your worries, you can prevent them from dominating your thoughts throughout the day. This technique can help you take control over your worry habits, giving you more freedom to be present in the moment.

Do it now: Start today: Pick a 15-minute window in your schedule for 'worry time,' and practice writing down any concerns that come up during the day. It may feel strange at first, but stick with it and notice how much more mental space you’ll create!

For more structured tools like this one, our WorryTree app offers techniques to help you manage your thoughts and worries. You can download it with a free 7-day trial here.

Photo by Elle Mundas

Calm Seeker’s Toolbox

More practical tools and techniques to try this season.

🎧 Anxiety and the inward compulsion (45-minute listen)

This episode of the Disordered podcast is potentially an anxiety game changer! In this episode, Josh and Drew focus on the fear-driven habit of not only having thoughts, but answering them, engaging with them, checking in on them, and inviting them in for lengthy conversations that go on endlessly and drive anxiety and more discomfort. One for anyone who’d like to get better at managing worried thoughts. Listen here.

📖 How scheduling worry time can help with anxiety (4-minute read)

I know I’ve shared this before but this blog post is by far our most read post at WorryTree of all time. If you’re interested in finding out more detail about the worry time technique and how it might work for you, grab a cup of tea and read this post offering a more in-depth look at this helpful cognitive behavioural therapy technique.

📺 The #1 skill to stop anxiety and master GAD (12-minute watch)

“Our brain is designed to keep us alive, not make us happy.” This is a really interesting and insightful video from Therapy in a Nutshell about how to stop worrying and how the brain tricks us into thinking we can manage the world around us by worrying about it. If you ever find yourself worrying about not worrying, then this video is for you.

Photo by Borchee

More support for you

Latest updates from WorryTree and other ways we can support you.

If you read our last newsletter, you’ll know that we’ve been taking some time out to meet with therapists and mental health practitioners recently to talk to them about how we can make WorryTree more effective for you.

These calls have been so useful in helping us to plan the next steps for WorryTree and we can’t wait to share more over the coming weeks and months about what is coming next. Last week we also took those conversations to the next level, meeting with our lead developer to start planning how and when we can make a number of big changes to the WorryTree app. More on that soon!

Recently, while tidying up at home, we stumbled across the last few fidget bracelets we used to offer in the WorryTree shop. These special bracelets were designed with mindfulness in mind, and they helped many of our community members manage anxiety by giving their hands something to focus on. We won't be restocking these as we decided to focus on our app and newsletter rather than mindful gifts, but we'd love to see these final few go to loving homes. Every sale directly supports WorryTree's development.

Photo by WorryTree

Remember…

If you're struggling at the moment, then know that asking for help is a sign of strength not of weakness. Contact someone you can trust like your Doctor, a friend or a relative, or text SHOUT to 85258 (UK) to start a conversation with a crisis support volunteer. 

Remember, no matter where you are on your journey, we're here with tools to help you find peace in the present moment.