This week we'll be exploring different ways we can engage with our feelings of dread. Today, we're going to use journaling to imagine having a conversation with dread. You can take as long as you'd like but try to write for at least five minutes. Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.
Dread can feel so heavy, most of the time we don’t even want to talk about it. But what if we tried to express our dread in a different way? Welcome to Day One of the Dread Project Challenge, a five-day series that investigates an emotion so many of us are struggling with lately – from our dread of the next Zoom meeting to worries that have life-and-death stakes. Each day of the Challenge, we tackle dread in a different way, and offer you a fun exercise for feeling a little better, even when you’re anticipating the worst.
In today’s episode we rewrite some of the stories we tell ourselves about dread. Clinical Psychologist and Poet Dr. Hala Alyan gives us a journaling prompt to get some distance and make even our scariest feelings more approachable.
Check out dreadproject.com for more information about The Dread Project and daily prompts for The Dread Project Challenge. Please share how this Dread Project Challenge, “Rewrite Your Dread,” went for you by sending us a voice memo at morethanafeeling@tenpercent.com.
Sign up for the Dread Project Listener Challenge here: dreadproject.com. If you’re seeing this after the challenge has begun, don’t worry! You can sign up and participate anytime.
For more information about More Than A Feeling, The Dread Project, and today’s guests, check out our show notes at: www.tenpercent.com/mtaf-podcast-episodes/rewrite-your-dread. And follow us on Twitter at @podfeelings.
And if digging into dread is very difficult or intense for you, some additional resources that could help are listed below.
Search for a therapist:
Mental Health Resources:
Apps:
- Try the Ten Percent Happier app for free for thirty days by visiting tenpercent.com/more and check out the meditation pack made especially for working with dread.
- Dare App - free app to help with anxious moments
If you are currently experiencing a mental health crisis, please click here, text 741741, or call 988.
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