Hey guys, it has been a while since I felt inspired to write about something meaningful. If you have been following my blog, you know that in recent weeks, I’ve been quite obsessed with a new style of blogging – posting “Shorts”, a way to quickly write something that I’m thinking about or have experienced. It’s more like a quick read for my intended readers. Moving forward, I fully intend on sticking with this style of writing/posting. And I’ll write something more substantive on a more occasional basis.

Weekly Reflections

The one thing I’ve been doing in recent weeks is what I would consider my weekly reflections. As much as it has benefitted me before in the past, attempting to write about my daily reflections is just time-consuming. With the limited time attention-span that I have, I wanted to spend my time more meaningfully [productively]. Besides, in recent months, I’ve started to feel like it’s becoming more of a routine than actually being meaningful. So this is my aim to break that routine. A couple of weeks into it, I must say, it appears to be working. I no longer feel like I’m just going through the motion.

Today, every single week, I would have this central theme/message, and every single day, I would spend time reflecting about the different ways I could apply that lesson into the different aspects of my life.

Taking Action Despite My Worries

For this week’s reflection, as you’ve already guessed that one, it is about dealing with my own negative tendencies. For as long as I have been struggling with chronic anxiety disorders, I’ve struggled quite often with being in a “state of worrying”. For me, when I start spiraling, usually the over worrying would have a crippling effect. I would basically freeze and stop acting on whatever it is that I should be acting upon. A large portion of my greatest regrets in my life are a result of me worrying too much about things I can’t control. I would be so anxious about the uncertainties that my brain would just freeze. I think you get the idea.

The Bullet Journal Method

One of the very first things that I have found extremely helpful is by incorporating the Bullet Journal Method into my daily life. Since I started using these notebooks to help journal my thoughts and tasks, my overall productivity has increased significantly. It feels like a grounding rod so if I start getting distracted, this will help to pull me back to ground so I can focus on what is ahead of me instead of something that’s far off.

As I’ve recently discovered, by using the Bullet Journal Method effectively in my daily life, I’ve found it easier to snap out of potential states of worrying. In the past, when I start to spiral, I would often find it hard to ground myself again. I felt almost like a kite that has been cut and is just floating away. Having the Bullet Journal has been really good for someone like me that is also on the ADHD spectrum.

Another good benefit of using this method is that by placing it in front of me throughout the day, it’s a way for me to remind myself to focus on what I can control (what I can do today, right now, in the present moment). As I’ve experienced in recent weeks, it has become easier for me to snap myself out of those states of worrying.

Rely on My Faith in God

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

– Matthew 6:25

For the benefit of new readers on my blog, in recent years, I’ve been making a serious effort to stop the constant preaching of my faith. Instead of just talking about my faith, I’ve chosen to led a more grounded, practical Christian life. What I mean is that I’m trying my best to put what I have read and learned into practice. After all, people often don’t do what we tell them, but chances are, they will likely follow what we do. So, I figured, how I conduct myself is more than important than what I can say.

And this week, I’ve been making a more conscious effort to put into practice what Matthew 6:25-34 is trying to teach us. That also means learning to trust that God already has a plan for me even if the future seems quite uncertain. It means trusting that God will guide me as I continue to make my plans about what I’m going to do with the time that I do have.

So, even when things seem uncertain, I will continue to trust that God already has a plan in place for me, even if I cannot see it or understand it right this very moment.

No Ideal Moment

In my whack-a-mole experience with worrying this past week, it has reminded me that there really is no ideal time or situation for us to start doing something. If I keep waiting for the right moment, the right feelings and motivation before I start acting, I will continue to miss out on the opportunity to do something. All I need to do is to look back and remember all those times when I failed to act and allowed my anxiety and worrying to stop me from acting.

Actually, come to realize, the whack-a-mole analogy seems most apt when it comes to describing my own experiences with dealing with my state of worrying and anxieties. I had initially considered the idea of using “Stop Worrying” in my blog title for today, but then I also realize that it might not be the most realistic description of what really happens in real life. When someone tries to tell me to “stop worrying”, I would often feel like they are not being understanding or empathetic about my circumstances. It’s not like a switch that I can simply turn on and off. Sometimes, it’s easier to manage and other times, I would still come really close to spiraling.

So, I’m not going to sit here and tell you to stop worrying about whatever it is that you are currently worrying about. Instead, I want to encourage you to take action despite whatever you might be feeling or experiencing right now. That is really how I’ve been dealing with my own anxieties and worrying. As I’ve shared above, having the Bullet Journal helped a lot too. It’s a way to remind myself that I have this list of things I can do today, so I need to focus on that. Once I start working on the next item on that list, gradually, I would find that I’m no longer worrying about whatever it was that I was worrying about.

Working on the Bullet Journal has become another tool that I can add to my arsenal of coping mechanisms for my chronic anxiety. And so far, it has been working quite well.

Mental Health Discussions

What about you? How do you manage or deal with your own anxieties and worrying? I love to read about your experiences and what you’ve have tried and done that works. I figured, the more weapons we have in our arsenal, the better and easier it becomes to better manage our anxiety disorders and state of worrying.