Worries seem to be a common theme to Moodscope members to a lesser or greater extent. It is interesting to me how worries can change their size depending on the situation. Sometimes worries can appear to be huge insurmountable mountains and at other times they appear as small obstacles that can easily be negotiated.

Worries for me can also take on physical shapes and colours. Mountains are a frequent example where they appear as a range of worries where even if you manage to scale the first one there is always going to be a bigger one right behind and no sight of the green and pleasant valley to motivate you to get over the climb. Mountains are grey and menacing just like worries. I don't think I've seen and green or yellow worries! Maybe if they took on a more appealing colour they wouldn't appear quite as big worries.

So perhaps thinking more rationally about worries is part of helping to cope with them. Accepting that no one has a magic wand to make them disappear, maybe a little creative thinking by recolouring and reshaping the worry in to a more friendly object might make them a little easier to deal with. After all black jagged mountains are quite threatening where as a pleasant rounded green hill seems to me far more manageable.

Another technique that I find useful is to break things down into bite sized chunks. When I cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats, I covered the country in 20 mile rest stops – I did not worry about getting over the next steep hill or where I was going to stop overnight I just carried on to the next break and low and behold I eventually arrived at John O'Groats! My cycle ride also taught me the importance of having a clear goal.

One of the things about having goals or a focus is that it enables other issues to be "parked "if they are not central to your goal. "Parking" these issues does not mean that you can ignore them it's just a way of dealing with them when you can and I guess also giving them less importance. After all you cannot deal with everything and everything in life cannot be all important. Goals definitely help in dealing with life – they give focus and they help prioritise things.

For my cycle ride I had to train and fit everything around work and family commitments. I was lucky having a supportive wife and also working within a commutable distance so managed to swap a boring drive into two valuable training sessions. If only everything in life could be rearranged to turn an obstacle into a bonus!

Steven

A Moodscope member.