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Transforming Helplessness into Hope: A 10-Minute Solution

Transforming Helplessness into Hope: A 10-Minute Solution

Read this to discover a 10-minute solution for transforming helplessness into hope and breaking the worry cycle.

Sol TV
December 05, 2024

🌟 Overcoming the Worry Cycle

🍎 Sol Bites: A 10-Minute Drill to Stop Worrying

🔄 The Helplessness Equation: Hope = Action + Resilience

💡 Words of Wisdom

Let’s start off by imagining a few situations:

Your best friend loses her job and you don’t know how to make her feel better.
You finish a job interview and realize you misspoke about a key issue and there isn’t a chance to fix it.
Your mom calls to tell you she fell and got hurt, but you live across the country and can’t do anything to help.

When we’re faced with distressing situations we can’t control, we feel helpless—which is one of the most unsettling feelings a person can have. In situations like the ones above, we often trick ourselves into believing we can actually change things, and our minds race through a multitude of “'what if”' scenarios. That’s just the mind’s way of trying to escape the powerlessness.

Even though you may understand that worrying doesn’t help you or the situation you may cling to it because it gives you a sense of control. The act of worrying can feel like an outlet or distraction, and it provides a temporary relief from feeling helpless.

Still, developing a persistent worrying habit can actually increase stress over time and take a greater emotional toll than facing helplessness head-on. It’s like overindulging in alcohol or unhealthy foods despite knowing it isn’t good for your health, or overspending without considering the financial repercussions. Short-term relief can have negative long-term consequences.

Life will always involve uncertainties, and not every problem has an immediate solution. True resilience lies in recognizing and resisting the impulse to incessantly worry when you’re feeling helpless. Seeking short-term relief is a reactive strategy that ends up making us more vulnerable and exhausted over time, and it can have negative long-term consequences.

Sol Bites: A 10-Minute Drill to Stop Worrying

This is a routine we covered before but it’s worth revisiting. If you’re battling chronic worry and don’t want it to become a bad habit, start this routine to keep your worry at bay.

1) Choose a specific time each day to focus on your worries.

2) Set a timer for 10 minutes, and during that time, jot down all your concerns on a piece of paper. When time is up, throw away the paper—and your worries.

3) Stick to this schedule to keep your worries in check. If you start worrying outside your usual time, gently remind yourself that you have time to stress out later, then get back to what you're doing.