How ‘worry windows’ got me through one of my most stressful years
Last year, I endured a particularly difficult time when everything that could be wrong turned badly. A handful of my publishers were dismissed, which meant that I received less work (and money). My dog has developed annoying and difficult to treat allergies; I moved to a new state; My health insurance refused to pay steep medical bills; And then a truck broke our car and took off in a classic success (to name only a few terrors).
I was suddenly stressed something About every second of the day. After a few months, my therapist suggested that I create a “concern window”, or a piece of time planned during which I could, well, chew my problems. It was unnatural at first – after all, my brain was used to panicking at will – but in a few weeks, I felt much less disturbed and much more like me.
Claudia Giolitti-Wright, MA, LMFT, the founder of psychotherapy for young women in New York, generally recommends this technique to her customers who fight against anxiety or find themselves, like me, perpetually outdated. For what? “A concern window gives your anxious thoughts a seat at the table, but not the whole house, so you can recognize them without letting them take over your whole day,” explains Giolitti-Wright. Here’s how it changed my life – and how it could help you too:
What happens when your concerns are unleashed?
It will probably not come as much a shock, but constantly worrying can wreak havoc on your physical and mental health. When you are stressed, your body pumps stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline (you could know it as the combat or flight response). Although this physiological reaction energizes you in the short term so that you can attack the threat or the problem before you, excessive and long -term exposure to these stress hormones can trigger an inflammation in your body and contribute to fatigue, difficulty sleeping, muscle tension, digestive problems, a weakened immune system and chronic diseases, according to gigantic. “Constant concern really bears your body,” she says.
Mentally, panic perpetually about your problems can trigger feelings of anxiety or depression, irritability and make concentration difficult, pay attention and make decisions. This can also sow embittered relationships, which means that some people isolate and withdraw and others attack their loved ones. “Stress certainly has an impact on our ability to connect with others,” says Giolitti-Wright.
Why worry about windows can be so useful
When your concerns have no borders or limits, they can perform the show, explains Giolitti-Wright. I can testify – when everything was going badly in my life, I spent every minute of my day perplexed on how to repair things. When I was in a yoga class, for example, I was moving physically through the poses, but mentally, I was elsewhere, trying desperately to solve the problems.
