The To Worry About List
I worry. A lot. I like to share those worries with Josh. A lot. John Mulaney has a joke about why he married a Jewish woman. “With Jewish women, you do not have to guess what they are thinking
They will tell you.” I like to tell Josh things; the things inside my head.
But I really do like this idea from Forbes about creating a “to worry about” list throughout the day, and then setting aside time for the worrying when it’s convenient. It’s pretty simple:
Make an ongoing list of things that you need to worry about … Designate a time to sit down and review the list. When you do, you’ll realize most of it was nonsense. However, there will be a few points on there that require your attention. Instead of ruminating, make an action plan to address or resolve what’s bothering you.
I have this on-going “happy” list that I started because Mo Gawdat told me to start this list when I was reading Solve for Happy. Putting things on my happy list makes me happy. I like lists, and getting to write down pleasurable things is really pleasurable. I am very specific: “I am happy when I’m eating a good cucumber (not the sour, yellow, malafafonny types)” — malafafon is Hebrew for cucumber, and I associate a certain type of disappointing cucumber that I once purchased at a shuk with that word — or “I am happy when I find something that was missing” or “I am happy when I think about the possibility of one day having my very own puffin!” or “I am happy when I am 100% certain that a space is cricket-free.”
It feels good when I put a new item on that list. I wonder if it will feel equally good to write out my worries on a daily basis and then reflect on them during a set time.
I guess I’m going to find out. Come with me on an adventure where I write out all of my concerns in a single space and then read the list over and over again…
Do you keep a happy list? Do you keep a worry list?
8 comments
No, the worry list just makes me miserable. Those poor kids being torn from their families. I guess I should make my morning 5calls.org call about it.
I don’t have a list but I am doing a better job of consciously deciding to put aside worrying about things I cannot control or cannot control right now.
No worry list for me. I tend to keep my worries in my head, and when I realize it starts to get me too down, I purge the things I can’t control and banish them from my brain. Or at least I try. I don’t really need a happy list, I just need to look around me (past the messy house, of course.)
Carrying around lots of worry, especially about the separated families.
I want to try this – this seems like a useful way of removing some of the stress from worries.
Does my to-do list count as a worry list? Calling my congress people daily has been added
I like the idea of both worry lists, and happy lists. In fact, I think I’m going to start both today! (I like making lists too, though I should do it more often. Eg. when I go to the supermarket when I’m hungry.)
And I adore the word malafafon. I’d use that every day if I had the opportunity. It can be number 1 on today’s Happy List.
PS. Last night on Facebook, a friend posted over 20 photos of puffins she’d seen that day. Puffins looking cute, puffins with tiny fish in their mouths, puffins flapping their wings. Puffins everywhere!
Hmmmm… I’ve made gratitude lists and “things that make me happy’ lists (there’s a “small pleasures” list on my blog right now), but I never thought of a worry list. I don’t think I need a list to remind me of what I need to worry about, though… there seems to be plenty of material these days….! On the other hand, maybe by writing it down & seeing it in black & white, these things won’t seem quite as worrisome? I’ll be interested to hear how this plays out for you…!