Hello!
I don't know about you guys, but I listen to a TON of podcasts in a bunch of different genres while I'm knitting (or driving, or walking, or cleaning, or cooking...) So I thought that from time to time you might be interested in hearing about a podcast that I love, but that may be new to you. These posts will be labeled as Knittin Listen posts so you can find them easily when you need to try something fresh & interesting.
Today I'd like to introduce you to The Chalene Show episode 393:
I've talked about my own struggles with anxiety before & thought that this would be a great podcast to share with you all because many of the tactics that Chalene describes in this episode are things that I've done off and on to help cope with my own struggles.
One of the tactics that she describes is to write down whatever is going through your mind so that you can get those thoughts out of your head so you can think clearly. This is one of my favorite methods of coping when everything just feels like too much. I always think of it like the scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Dumbledore uses the pensive to pull the excess thoughts from his mind and sort through them.
One thing that Chalene doesn't mention & that I love doing is once you've written down everything that you can possibly think of... rip the pages out of your notebook & throw them away. This works particularly well if you're being overly critical of something you've done (and realize you're being a bit ridiculous, but can't let it go) or a situation that you are very frustrated about & can't control. Write down whatever comes to mind, things you wish you could say, things you wish you could do... don't feel ashamed of any urges that you feel with this practice. The important thing is to acknowledge the feelings and urges, get them out of your system and then when you've worn out your thoughts just get them out of your life by throwing them away.
It seems a bit silly, but this technique is very freeing. You get to fully experience the emotions that you're struggling with but in a way that doesn't leave you saying or doing something that you will regret. When you've finished, you'll find that you'll usually be left with a reasonable way to handle the situation or you'll realize that it really wasn't that big of an obstacle anyway. Sometimes the solution doesn't appear until the next day or so, but you'll notice an immediate sense of calm once you've gotten everything out of your mind and onto a page.
Chalene has a lot of great tips aside from the writing one, so give the full episode a listen & see if there isn't something in there that you would benefit from trying. (It's only like 25 minutes, you can fit that in somewhere.) If you're interested in anything that they discuss in this episode, full show notes with links to everything can be found on the HOW TO STOP OVERTHINKING THINGS webpage.
If you enjoyed The Chalene Show & would like to hear more ideas to help improve your life, stress less & get more done in your day, consider subscribing:
Happy Knitting (& listening!),
Shaina ^_^
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