Goodnight Mind by Rachel Manber

best and you may be even more prone to imagining unlikely disasters and worrying about things over which you have little control. The solution? Problem solve intentionally at a time when you are better able to generate good solutions. Give yourself a time to address your worries earlier in the day so that bedtime is no longer your only available time to think about the day’s events.
    Schedule a Worry Time
    If you give yourself time earlier in the day to deal with unfinished business, your worries will be less likely to follow you to bed. Start by scheduling a time in the early evening when you can have about twenty to thirty minutes of uninterrupted time. Divide a sheet of paper (or an electronic document) in half by drawing a vertical line down the middle. At the top of the left-hand column write “Worries or Concerns.” Label the right-hand column “Next Steps” or “Solutions.”
    What typically worries you at night? Is there something on your mind right now that may bother you later? Do you have a problem for which you have not yet thought of a solution? These are all good candidates for your “Worries or Concerns” column. Once you have recorded a worry, think of the next step you could take toward resolution. Try to think of several possible solutions for each problem. Once you have generated several solutions, focus on the best “next” step that you can take. For example, if your worry is that you have a bill that is due soon and you are not sure whether it was paid, ultimately the solution is to pay it if it remains outstanding; however, there are intervening steps that you should write down. For example, you will need to look on the computer or wherever you track your bill payments to see whether the bill was paid. This is just a small step toward paying the bill, but it makes the process more manageable.
    Most people who worry can generate good solutions to problems; however, their problems seem so overwhelming that they fail to actually take steps to solve them. Breaking a solution or a goal down into smaller steps increases the likelihood that you will move toward it. You may find that accomplishing the first small step inspires you to move to the next step, helping you meet your goal. If you have several unmet goals, you may be prone to feeling anxious, frustrated, or even depressed. Try breaking them down and working on them in this way, and you may feel better.
    You may choose to work on only one worry per day, or you may use your worry time to generate a “to-do” list to solve mini-worries. Simply take time to work on whatever problems come up.
    Some problems may not have immediate solutions or may be entirely out of your control. When a solution cannot be immediately pursued, thinking about possible solutions and making plans for different scenarios may help you feel less stuck. If the problem is entirely out of your control, however, constructive solutions are not realistic. In this case, it helps to just write about the problem and accept that a solution is not within your control. Let’s say you are looking for a job. You have already created a plan for identifying and applying for jobs, worked on your CV, and done everything else that you possibly can. Yet you are still worried about getting a job. At this point, things are out of your control and it is best to focus on taking care of yourself so that you maintain the energy and optimism to wait until one of your job prospects pays off. Sometimes actively reassuring yourself that things will be okay is the next best step to resolving a worry. If worries about finding a job persist, do some free writing about them.
    When your worry time is up, fold the paper in half and put it away. Reassure yourself that you have done the best that you can do for now. Re-remind yourself of this if the worry intrudes into your nighttime routine. That is, remind yourself that you already dealt with the problem when you were at your problem-solving best