Creative Coping Toolkit White Horiz
Activities
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The Worry Jar

Managing Our Worries

Sometimes writing down our worries can make all the difference. By acknowledging the things that make us anxious, we’re one step closer to finding a solution. Use this exercise and a friend to get some space and perspective from your worries, so you can think about how to approach and ‘solve’ them.

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Instructions

1
ASSESS YOUR STRESS

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being really stressed, what is your number at the moment?

2
DUMP OUT YOUR WORRIES

Write each separate worry or anxiety that you are dealing with on a separate index card or piece of paper, fold it, and put it in a ‘Worry Jar’. Know that now you’ve written them down, you can leave them alone for a bit.

3
SHARE AND BRAINSTORM

After you’ve let your worries ‘air,’ revisit them with a friend. Talk them through one by one, brainstorming creative ways to manage or move past them. Write each strategy and solution down on the back of its card or paper.

4
GROW YOUR SOLUTION JAR

When you have workable solutions that you’re happy with, place that paper into the solution jar. Your brain can relax knowing that there is a workable plan, and you are NOT defined by your worries; they are separate from you.

Reflections & Actions

How did ‘dumping out’ your worries onto pieces of paper and placing them in a jar help you?

Did you find that giving them some space before discussing them help you? Why do you think that was?

What was helpful about working with a partner to find solutions?

 

Moving Forward

Keep a Worry Journal where you record your daily anxieties.

Look at patterns; jot down ideas for solutions.

Check-in with a partner to help find solutions, and use as an accountability partner to action them.

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