You might think you are alone when it comes to how much you worry. I’m here to tell you, you are not! “According to the National Institute of Mental Health, around 40 million Americans have an anxiety disorder. Those people face anxiety, stress, and worry each day.”1
One of the ways you can help subside your worry is to understand where it is coming from. Understanding what is causing it could help you worry less. To understand your worry, write it down. This forces you to put into words what is literally causing you anxiety. This in itself can help break down your anxiety into smaller pieces for you to tackle.
For example, it’s Sunday night and all of a sudden you’re feeling very overwhelmed and anxious. You don’t know why because you’ve had a wonderful day with friends. You take a quiet moment to reflect and write down what you are specifically worried about. You think about the rest of the day’s plans and tomorrow. Ah yes, tomorrow. That is it; a big meeting with your boss and clients in the am!
Now knowing what you are specifically worried about you can further process what about this particular event is most troublesome. For example: Do you have to present in the meeting? Are you anxious about meeting new people? Are you concerned you might not know enough on the topic at hand? – Try to break it down AND write it down. You can write this down in your journal or keep a separate Worry Log.
For a period of time I used the “Notes” App on my phone as my Worry Log. Anytime I felt worried or anxious about something, I’d open the app and put the date, time and thought. This allowed me to feel a little relief of getting the worry somewhere else besides my head and allowed me to see clearly what was bothering me. After a few days I could look back to see what were the common threads in my worries. What was I was consistently anxious about? Was it in my control or something I wanted to have control over but didn’t? My Worry Log helped me answer these questions.
Starting a Worry Log might seem overwhelming and that is okay! Just take them one at a time. You could even put “anxious about starting my worry log” as your first entry. No one has to see this but you. It is your own little spot that you can drop off those worry bags and sort through. You can use a paper journal or you can download one of the many apps available on the market. Healthline.com did a nice review of apps in 2015 of Anxiety Relief apps. Take a look at their reviews to see if any hit your fancy. Just like a journal, an anxiety relief app has to work well for you. Just because it works for someone else, doesn’t mean it has to for you. And if all else fails, just use your Notes app!
God Bless,
Jess
The 15 Best Anxiety iPhone and Android Apps of 2015
Cartoon from unknown artist. I love this cartoon as I think it perfectly depicts worry and anxiety! If you know the artist, email me with the info so I can credit them!
One of the ways you can help subside your worry is to understand where it is coming from. Understanding what is causing it could help you worry less. To understand your worry, write it down. This forces you to put into words what is literally causing you anxiety. This in itself can help break down your anxiety into smaller pieces for you to tackle.
For example, it’s Sunday night and all of a sudden you’re feeling very overwhelmed and anxious. You don’t know why because you’ve had a wonderful day with friends. You take a quiet moment to reflect and write down what you are specifically worried about. You think about the rest of the day’s plans and tomorrow. Ah yes, tomorrow. That is it; a big meeting with your boss and clients in the am!
Now knowing what you are specifically worried about you can further process what about this particular event is most troublesome. For example: Do you have to present in the meeting? Are you anxious about meeting new people? Are you concerned you might not know enough on the topic at hand? – Try to break it down AND write it down. You can write this down in your journal or keep a separate Worry Log.
For a period of time I used the “Notes” App on my phone as my Worry Log. Anytime I felt worried or anxious about something, I’d open the app and put the date, time and thought. This allowed me to feel a little relief of getting the worry somewhere else besides my head and allowed me to see clearly what was bothering me. After a few days I could look back to see what were the common threads in my worries. What was I was consistently anxious about? Was it in my control or something I wanted to have control over but didn’t? My Worry Log helped me answer these questions.
Starting a Worry Log might seem overwhelming and that is okay! Just take them one at a time. You could even put “anxious about starting my worry log” as your first entry. No one has to see this but you. It is your own little spot that you can drop off those worry bags and sort through. You can use a paper journal or you can download one of the many apps available on the market. Healthline.com did a nice review of apps in 2015 of Anxiety Relief apps. Take a look at their reviews to see if any hit your fancy. Just like a journal, an anxiety relief app has to work well for you. Just because it works for someone else, doesn’t mean it has to for you. And if all else fails, just use your Notes app!
God Bless,
Jess
The 15 Best Anxiety iPhone and Android Apps of 2015
Cartoon from unknown artist. I love this cartoon as I think it perfectly depicts worry and anxiety! If you know the artist, email me with the info so I can credit them!
