🌿 On embracing change and trying new things
This month: Our favourite tools, using breathing to calm stress, cognitive shuffling and introducing our new home on Substack
Photo: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
🌿 Hello friends!
Welcome to our new home on Substack!
Part blog, part newsletter and (maybe one day?) part members-only community, The Worry Tree is our new online home.
Everything else will stay the same - our app, our blog, and the WorryTree website. And, I’m excited to be trying something new, pouring even more intention and effort into making this an email you look forward to opening on the first Sunday of every month.
So, welcome, I’m very glad you’re here.
Because this is my first post via Substack for The Worry Tree (I’ve been posting on Substack for a while here) and because we’ve welcomed so many new friends to this community since we moved here, I wanted to take this opportunity to do two things.
One, to ask you what you would like to see here. What would you like to read more of? What would make this email more helpful to you each month?
Let me know by leaving a comment below. I want this to be the most valuable newsletter on the internet for people who want to worry less and live more (a big ambition, yes, but it’s what I’m aiming for.)
One of the things I love about Substack is that you’ll now have access to the full archive of our previous emails. You’ll be able to go back to today’s post at any time, and anyone new to our community will be able to look back on all of our previous posts as well. We’ve already added our last six months of newsletters to our archive, so you can dive back in, and with time we’ll add more.
This means you can revisit this simple tool I shared back in August 2023 which helps you to focus more on the positive things that happen throughout your day. This tool is a personal favourite of mine which I use all the time. Like everything we try to do with WorryTree, it’s super simple and yet very effective. All you need is your phone or tablet. Try it, and let me know how you get on.
While you’re there, you can also revisit this post about navigating changing seasons, or this post where we focused on feeling better by building a consistent gratitude practice. Last July we talked about feeling overwhelmed and being a little more intentional with phone apps and social media, and in September we focused on why learning to stop worrying takes commitment and consistent effort.
The uncomfortable truth is that you have to keep practising, showing up and doing the work. Every time you write down your worry, get it out of your head and take action instead of overthinking, you are taking a step along the path towards worrying less.
And to reach our goal of not overthinking everything, we need to take a hundred tiny steps along that path, every day.
Right now, I’m taking small, daily steps focusing on building a regular breathing practice into my morning routine. It’s day seven (as I write this) and I am definitely seeing a change in my focus in the mornings and my ability to watch my thoughts pass rather than letting them get into a loop. I’ll let you know here how I’m getting on with this technique.
I’m as passionate as ever about empowering you with practical tools to calm and control worry so this space will continue to bring you personal experiences, tips and practices to help you stop letting worry get in the way of making the most of this one, precious life.
Please let me know in the comments below what you’d like to see more of here. This is one of my favourite online spaces and so I’m very happy you’re here with me.
- Louise x
PS, if you know someone who would find this helpful, please share this with them too, I know I'd appreciate the thought from a friend. 🙏
Helpful things in February (curated just for you)
Photo: Snowdrops in Herefordshire, UK, February 2021
Here are a few practices, podcasts, blog posts and videos that we’ve been finding helpful recently and wanted to share with you:
If you like to understand the science behind things, you might like this short podcast from Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Dr Andrew Huberman. They talk about how to use breathing and peripheral vision to calm down our anxiety or stress response. You’ll need a spare 18 minutes to listen, and you can download the episode here. (And afterwards, try the peripheral vision sensory practice in WorryTree because it’s based on the same science!)
Do you find your worried thoughts are keeping you up at night? Then try something called Cognitive Shuffling. It’s based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and involves distracting yourself with a task that will reduce anxiety and at the same time tell your brain it’s time to rest. You can read more in this recent article about how to use cognitive shuffling to help you get to sleep.
‘The things you do every day will always become your comfort zone’. Watch this super short video from Dr Julie Smith about the one thing she recommends for dealing with anxiety. And it’s all about taking action. Watch this quick video here.
The more I’ve reflected on anxiety, the more I’ve come to believe that sometimes anxiety is triggered even before a conscious thought. The conclusion this leads me to is that sometimes our body goes into fight or flight automatically, based on some kind of learned reaction. So how can we listen more to our bodies to help cope with anxiety as well as work on our thoughts? I’ve been finding this book by Hilary McBride helpful and interesting on my journey to understanding more about the body and mind connection.
Beneath the canopy: WorryTree uncovered
Photo: Image of our WorryTree app, January 2024
Let's talk about what's new at WorryTree and what we're working on next:
WorryTree Versions 3.0.14 (Apple) and 3.0.16 (Android) have been released: Earlier in January we released version 3.0.14 of WorryTree. We had a few minor teething problems with the Android version - nothing that you would have noticed, but there was a bug behind the scenes. And so this week we are in the process of releasing another version just for Android which will fix the bug!
Another exciting new release in the pipeline: We’ve started work on another new version of WorryTree! We’re looking at quite a few new features at the moment, including some brand new tools, and whilst we can’t add everything we’d like to in the next version we’re hoping to bring you some rather exciting updates soon!
The Worry Tree on Substack: As you’ll see we’ve finally moved our newsletter community over here to Substack! We’re very happy to be here on Substack and are really excited about the potential it brings for connecting with you, our community, on a more personal level. Watch this space for more coming soon!
Building new partnerships: During Stress Awareness Month in April you’ll see the beginnings of a very exciting new partnership for us! We’ll share more here next month!
We're committed to helping you feel more calm and in control of your overthinking, by using effective tools that you can practice anywhere because we believe that worrying gets in the way of you making the most of this one, precious life.
If you have any questions or ideas, please get in touch below!
🌿 Here’s more ways we can help you worry less and live more:
Try my new Whatsapp and SMS course, 30 Days to Stop Worrying. Learning to worry less is simple, but it isn’t easy. Small, daily consistent steps over time will make all the difference, which is why I created this new 30-day programme bringing you gentle daily prompts to your phone every morning. And you dear reader, will get 50% off in February if you use the code SUBSTACK.
If you haven’t already tried our WorryTree app then you can download it for free here if you have an Android phone or tablet, or here if you have an Apple device.
Our WorryTree Guided Workbook is an interactive downloadable journal helping you to build a consistent, long-term practice to manage your worried thoughts. You’ll work through a series of self-guided exercises based on what we’ve learned about worry and anxiety over the years.
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.