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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

1 Nicoleandmaggie { 06.19.18 at 8:44 am }

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.

2 Beth { 06.19.18 at 9:01 am }

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.

3 Charlotte { 06.19.18 at 9:30 am }

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.)

4 Working mom of 2 { 06.19.18 at 3:47 pm }

Carrying around lots of worry, especially about the separated families.

5 Counting Pink Lines { 06.19.18 at 11:18 pm }

I want to try this – this seems like a useful way of removing some of the stress from worries.

6 Cristy { 06.19.18 at 11:55 pm }

Does my to-do list count as a worry list? Calling my congress people daily has been added

7 Mali { 06.20.18 at 12:16 am }

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!

8 loribeth { 06.21.18 at 9:26 pm }

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…!

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