Release that Worry

It’s Sunday Night, I’ve had a pretty productive weekend, another 2lbs weight loss, babysitting for friends and seeing my family, doing some Christmas  shopping with the Wife, watching Venom at the cinema yesterday and today I have been to church, cleaned both cars on the drive and cooked a roast dinner. Earlier in the evening tonight, our small group from church met with two other groups and we shared an evening of prayer, ‘popcorn prophecy’ and worship, someone had a word for me which was “carry on writing” so here I am, currently sitting in the lounge watching The Cry with my Wife and suddenly started to think about the amount of young people I am currently working with who suffer from this huge phenomenon called ‘Sunday Night Anxiety’, one young person told me that their family call it “Sundaynightitus”. It’s basically where one starts to feel anxious about their coming week, the situations that could arise and the worst case scenario of such situations. I’m proud to know that a family have recognised the issue, they’ve gone so far to name the issue, the best thing is they have separated the issue from the person, giving anxiety less control or power over oneself. 

How many of us panic when it comes to 7 or 8pm on Sunday evening? There are some sat there thinking of all the things they wanted to achieve before the clock strikes midnight tonight, all the people they wanted to see, all the places they wanted to go, and there are some who are dreading this coming week, the stress they have from their work, the knowledge of upcoming deadlines and the pressure of multiple commitments they need to keep. BUT what’s the issue here? Tomorrow is Monday and five days later we have another weekend to either plan for now, or be spontaneous and live in the moment. This panic needs to stop, we live by a Gregorian Calendar (more info if you’re bothered) that dictates to us that within a seven day period, typically two of those days would be for a “break or chill”. Release the worry you have over this coming week, you can achieve what you set out to achieve, as long as you set yourself smart goals! 

In my Youth Work degree I’ve come to use ‘SMART Goals’ quote often, it stands for:

S - Specific, are your goals clear and concise?

M - Measurable, how are you tracking any progress?

A - Attainable, can progress be made before the deadline?

R - Realistic, do your goals fit in with your lifestyle?

T - Timely, what is your deadline? (In this scenario, you have until Friday*)

*unless you work weekends, which isn’t the worse thing but ensure you take a break elsewhere and keep strong boundaries during your out-of-work hours!

Using this sort of goal setting strategy for work has been great, but now I’m back to University for my final year (Open Uni) I am trying to adopt the same strategy to support me in my personal life to also impact on my studies, so looking at my upcoming week I try to make sure that I am planning in time to study, time to go to the gym, time to see friends/family etc. It can be difficult at times, it can get to Friday and I sometimes panic that I’ve not done enough, but I remember, there is always next week! What is the use in worrying about what could happen? It does not add anything except fear and anxiety into your life. 

So, finishing off, I ask you all to try for one whole month, on Sunday evening, to instead, look back at your week, thank God for the good things, make a note of the things you need to carry over into this week and then, spend 5 minutes, noting/thinking about what you want or need to achieve in these next five days and then return to whatever you were doing, knowing that you’ve put these thoughts to one side and tomorrow is Monday.

BIG LOVE

MATT

PS: Below is a small bible verse that has helped me to reduce any “worry” in regard to these situations and many others:

““Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:27-29‬ ‭MSG‬‬