Tools

May 7, 2021

Reflection: Is this is a problem that needs to be solved right now?

Today, I’m grateful for: reminders and tools

Challenge: What are your go-to tools?

“What’s the problem?”

This simple question offers so much for than you might expect from those three little words. I’ve used this question in the past to help quell my anxiety and bring me back to the present, but I admit, it’s a tool that seems to have fallen to the bottom of my toolbox. “What is the problem?....Is there a problem that needs to be solved RIGHT now?”

Almost always, the answer is no. Because true emergencies or problems that DO need to be solved don’t lend themselves to worries and anxieties. They get addressed in the moment because they are REAL problems. Everything else is just our minds playing tricks on us. Anxiety-driven stress that offers NO value for the present moment.

Now if you’re like me, the planner in you says “but I need to worry about these things because if I don’t solve the problem, who will?!” But if it’s not a problem that can be solved right now, then what value will any amount of stress or worrying bring anyway?

It’s tough to sit with that in the moment, but it’s tools like these that help bring me back to the present moment when my mind really starts to wander.

Today, we met with our doula Kelli. I shared a bit of my heart and the challenges of the last few weeks, and she reminded me of this tool, among others. Today, I’m grateful for the reminder of these tools and my support system.

XO

SS