Now that you have kept a diary and started identifying your worries, try to get curious about your patterns.
You might ask yourself:
- Do certain worries come up again and again?
- Are there particular situations or times when you tend to worry more?
- Do your worries tend to focus on particular themes, such as your health, work, relationships or the future?
- What do you tend to do when you start worrying?
- Do you notice yourself checking, seeking reassurance, avoiding things or trying to work out every possible outcome?
- How does worrying affect how you feel or what you do?
You might start to notice that although the content of your worries changes, the underlying theme is often quite similar.
For example, “What if I get ill?”, “What if something goes wrong at work?” and “What if they don't like me?” might all have something in common: uncertainty about what might happen.
Reflecting on your patterns can help you identify what to explore next. If you notice that you have more hypothetical worries, Worry Time may be useful. If you notice more practical worries, the Problem Solving approach may help you focus on useful action.
You do not need to categorise every worry perfectly. The aim is to notice patterns and choose a next step that fits what you are experiencing.
What comes next?
Problem Solving is particularly relevant when there is something practical you can do right now. Worry Time offers another way of responding to hypothetical worries, where there is no useful action available at the moment.