This just came up in a comment, and it’s something I struggle with to, and I thought “let’s pool resources!” Because this is definitely a universal, everyone has those things you dread whether it is a meeting with your boss or a dentist appointment, and we waste so much energy worrying in advance and after for no reason.
I have a very bad habit of really dreading difficult meetings/conversations/whatever for days in advance, and then continuing to think about them and getting all het up about what I should have said and didn’t say and whatever for days afterwards. It’s 60 minutes of my life! If that! It’s one doctor’s appointment, one meeting with a repairman, one training session with an angry client, and it dominates everything in my life for DAYS!
I brought this up at my last therapy session and she gave me some really good visualization techniques, whenever I start stressing I close my eyes and meditate and picture the thing I am worrying about as flying past the window of my car, acknowledging it is there but then moving on to the real things of life. That mostly works for me but I’m still struggling with practicing it.
adh1325 in her comment had another great idea, thinking of it like a skit she is performing in. Giving herself that little bit of distance during the experience so it doesn’t get so tied up and crazy. I don’t think that would work for me because I hate performing so a skit would just make me more stressed, but I think it is a brilliant idea in general.
What other tricks have people tried? To get through the unpleasant experience itself, and also to stop wasting energy thinking about it constantly before and after?
