Friday, April 28, 2017

THE WORRY CHAIR

I was thrilled when my CF team told us they are adding a Psychologist to our "team". They are working real hard to care for our mental health as well as our physical. They are doing quarterly anxiety/depression screenings for CF patients and the help is available to us along with our family members. 

That little screening really helped me come to an understanding with my mental health. I didn't ever realize I was 'anxious' until I took the quiz 😳 - guys, I was above 80th percentile. I knew I worried a lot, A LOT. I knew that I had a hard time getting things off my mind. But I'd seen anxiety in some close loved ones, and mine didn't manifest like theirs. So I didn't think I had 'anxiety'. Then I took this little quizzerroo and it told me smack in the face! It was like "Hi, welcome to out-of-denial!" Except, I don't think I was in denial (isn't that what people 'in denial' say???).

Anywho, anyhow, we are now getting to the point. The psychologist shared a GREAT coping mechanism that has helped me keep my life grounded. As she handed me the sheet of paper with this story, I now share it with you...

I once knew a very wise lady who had a very special chair. She called it her ‘worry chair’.
Cartoon of a comfy armchair
She would set aside a time each day to do her worrying, then whenever one of those nagging thoughts popped into her head and interrupted what she was doing, she would say to that thought, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention; however, I’m a little busy right now. I’ll give it some thought at [allotted worry time] so you don’t need to remind me about it again until then.” Then she would imagine putting the thought into a little box and sending it whizzing off into the distance.
At that special ‘worry time’ she would go and sit in her worry chair and give the problem some serious thought, but only for a set time – say 20 minutes. If she found a solution, she was happy. If not, she simply said to the thought, “Thanks again for reminding me about that,” because the thought did have a positive intention; “however, I’ve given it some consideration and I cannot solve it at the moment. The outcome is just too far into the future to see it clearly, and I don’t have enough information at this time. So you don’t need to remind me about it again unless you have something new and useful to add,” at which point she put the thought back into it's little box and sent it whizzing off into the distance.

Getting up from the worry chair, she continued with the rest of her day.

Doing this prevents the problem from overwhelming your thoughts; keeping it in perspective and giving you the very best chance of solving it satisfactorily.

Everybody needs time out from their problems. That way they return to them refreshed; often seeing new possibilities they couldn’t see before.

(story used and downloaded from: here)

...So there you have it. Now pick a chair, any chair. Kitchen chair, folding chair, dad's recliner, toddlers timeout chair, pick ANY . I hope you find this as effective and comforting as I have. I'd love to hear your stories if you find some relief feel free to share with me, DM on instagram (@shermanmandie) or send an e-mail. 


(your patio chair could be your 'worry chair' too 😉 PC: @cdunnphoto_)

Xx, M



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