You were given this imagination, where you can create what doesn’t exist, where you can almost taste a reality so different to your present.
There are a million wonderful things we can do, places we can go, ideas we can create out of thin air with our imagination.
But what do we generally do with all of this power to create good? We make a long list of possible bad things that could happen and then we worry.
Instead of choosing to spend our imagination to create good things and imagine a future we will enjoy, we use our power to make ourselves miserable.
“Dad’s had a lot of headaches lately…. What if he is actually really sick and dies? Then I’ll have to quit school and work to help Mum and I’ll end up cleaning toilets for the rest of my life and I’ll die alone…”
“If I miss the bus today, then I’m going to miss Math and fail my test next week, then I’m going to fail the whole of year 9 and then none of my friends will want to hang out with me anymore and Mum will kick me out of home….”
When you worry, you are literally betting against yourself. You’re using your energy and ability to create good and you are finding ways for yourself to fail.
How do I stop, you ask?
One thing you can do, is get 2 mental boxes.
When you start to worry about something you need to put it in one of these boxes:
1. A problem I can do something about
2. A problem I can’t do anything about
The problems and scenarios in box 1 you can act on. Use your imagination to work out how to solve them! ie. You don’t have to keep worrying about missing the school bus, just be ready 5 minutes early. (that one doesn’t require much imagination ;)
The problems and scenarios in box 2, you need to put in the box and leave them there. We're talking about the 'what ifs?' and the worst case scenarios. They’ll keep trying to pop out and your imagination will love to create little stories for them, but keep putting them back in that box, as many times as you need to!!
You have the choice. Instead of using your powerful imagination to stress yourself out and worry, choose to use your imagination to create good.
If worry is a super big part of your life and you find yourself getting physically anxious, it's really important that you get help with that. Chat with someone you trust about it and read more here: