Worry Time | @caroline-cavanagh | The Anxiety Alchemist

3 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:10

In this brief monologue, Caroline Cavanagh explains a simple yet unconventional anxiety‑management technique called “worry time.” She observes that daily activities follow a natural schedule—breakfast, lunch, bedtime—but worry often intrudes continuously, disrupting that structure. She proposes designating a specific time each day (e.g., 5–6 pm or first thing in the morning) to deliberately focus on all worries. During this allotted period, the listener should allow themselves to worry fully, while committing to postpone any intrusive thoughts that arise outside the slot. Cavanagh suggests that, paradoxically, confining worry to a limited window makes it surprisingly hard to engage in, leading to a reduction in overall rumination and freeing the rest of the day from anxiety.

Chapters

Okay, stick with me on this one because it's gonna sound weird. It is weird, but boy, it works. So we have certain times of the day where we do things. You have breakfast mostly in the morning, unless you're a teenager, it might be 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but let's park that. We have lunch at lunchtime. We go to bed late in the day. Parts of the day have structure in when we do things. However, We can worry 24/7, and that really destroys the whole day. So what I would love you to do is to create worry time, a time of the day where you're going to get really, really good at worrying. It may be between 5 and 6, it may be when you get up in the morning— get out of the way! But that's the time when you do your worry. So if any other thoughts pop in your head at any time of the day, you just go, Nope, nope, I'm going to leave that to later. to my worry hour. And the really funny thing is, when you sit down for your worry time and go, okay, I'm gonna worry now, it's actually really hard. Give it a go. I think you'll find it surprisingly effective.