Worry on paper

Worry on paper. This track needs a pen and paper. The notes app will do if that is all you have, but paper is better. It has nothing else on it. Worries go round in the head because there is nowhere to put them. This gives them somewhere.

Sit with the paper in front of you. One slow breath out.

Now write what you are worried about. One line each. Do not explain, do not solve. Just the name of the worry. Keep going till the list runs dry.

If more come, add them.

Look at the list. Put the pen down. Notice how it feels to see them on paper instead of in the head. Relief, or a shock. Either is common.

Now go through the list. Next to each worry, put one of two marks. A tick if there is something you could do about it. A circle if there is nothing to do right now, or it is not in your hands.

The circles are the ones to put down for now. They may still matter. But worrying about them is not the same as doing something about them, and there is nothing to do yet. You can look again tomorrow.

Now the ticks. Choose one. Not the biggest. The one you could start on soonest.

Write one next step under it. Small enough to do today or tomorrow. A phone call, a message, a question to ask someone.

That is the whole practice. A list, two kinds of mark, one next step.

Fold the paper and keep it, or throw it away if that feels better. If the worries come back tonight, you can remind yourself they are on the paper.

Take one more slow breath out. Then go and do the next step, or go on with your day.