De-stressing with Bente (#2)

Learning to relax again: how do you manage to do that? Bente (23) is a freelance journalist and works as an online editor at Flow. Having experienced a near-burn-out, she’s finding her way to a life with less stress. And every Friday, she takes us with her on her journey to get there.

You know that rug that I told you about in my first blog post? Well, I like it. The thought of twenty minutes lying down and doing nothing seemed like an eon to me, but it was easier than I thought. I lay there every weekday, and I noticed that it really helped clear the mind.

But too many anxious thoughts still slipped through. My mind isn’t clear enough it seems, so I need to arm myself with heavier defenses in order to suppress my tendency to worry. And my therapist agrees with me.

Have I ever heard of ‘Worry Time’, she asks me.
“Worry what?” I answer.
“You schedule a half-hour of Worry Time into your day, and in that half hour you write all your worries down on a sheet of paper, and when you’re done, you tear it up.”
I look at her in amazement. I need to worry less, so how does setting aside specific time to worry help me?
“And what’s the use of that?” I ask.
“You give yourself time to focus on all your worrying thoughts,” she says. “And the rest of the day you try to worry as little as possible.”