Hello friends! 🌿
First of all this month I wanted to say a personal thank you First name / to you. Thank you for continuing to show up here on the first Sunday of every month, reading these musings and diving into the resources we share. We are very grateful for each and every one of you here.
Secondly I wanted to share with you this month a very simple tool that I learnt several years ago that I still find helpful to this day. Sometimes it's the simplest of tools that can make all the difference helping us to manage worry and anxiety.
I don't know if this resonates, but I tend to carry a lot of self-doubt. No matter what goes well, and what I might achieve, I have a tendency to focus on where things aren't quite right or didn't go as planned. I often feel like the imposter in the room, pretending to be an adult when really I have no idea what I am doing. Is that just me?
This little tool is what I use to remind myself to focus on the positive. It's best to use the Notes app on your phone, or a document on a computer, rather than doing this by hand, for reasons you'll see shortly.
First, within your Notes app or word/google document, make a list from 10 down to 1 (ten is at the top, 1 will be at the bottom).
Then, against each number on the list, write down in short form, something that you are proud of or has gone well. If you're like me, this first ten might take a while to think of. Be kind to yourself, these things can be the tiniest or the biggest but they need to be things that you have had some control over in some way.
Once you have your list, this is when the magic starts to happen.
Every time you do something that you feel proud of or that makes you feel good, from the smallest to the biggest action, add that in as number 10 at the top of the list and delete item one from the bottom of the list. This way, you always have ten items on your list, and as time goes by older items drop off to make way for the most recent at the top.
Regular use of this simple tool helps me to teach my brain to focus more on the positive, and to keep my sense of self-worth topped up.
💌 Let me know if you decide to give it a try and how you get on!
I'll be back at the beginning of September - in the meantime, I hope you find the resources below helpful, all focusing on simple, practical techniques for managing worry.
xx
PS, if you know someone who would benefit from any of these tools, please share this email with them too, I know I'd appreciate the thought from a friend. 🙏
