How to limit your worrying time
Give yourself some 'worry time'
Sometimes it's helpful to plan and think ahead, but when your worry gets excessive (or is over things you cannot control), it can have a negative impact on your mental health.
Try this exercise when you are feeling excessively worried or getting caught up in "worse-case scenarios".
Choose your worry time
Set aside 30 minutes (not before bedtime)
Capture your worries by writing them down.
Challenge your worries by asking questions, and try to take this exercise in good faith without being too self-critical or negative:
- Is there any evidence to support this?
- What would I say to a friend if they were feeling this way?
- Will this matter in one, two, or three years from now?
- If I had kept on worrying about this all day, would it have changed
anything?
Refocus afterwards. Take time after you have completed worry time to relax. Try mindfulness or meditation, read a book, cook a meal, do a workout. Anything that will help to shift your focus away from worry time to the present moment.
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