Befriend your Dread Buddy

I used to have a problem with a thought gremlin I call Dread Buddy. This little monster would visit me in the hours before an important meeting and wreak all sorts of havoc on my day. <blockquote> “Oh look who showed up 3 hours early to my weekly meeting, it’s Dread Buddy!” </blockquote> Past me might have let Dread Buddy run wild, trampling my calendar and headspace. Nowadays, I let this doom pet sit beside me. If it starts getting fussy, I take a moment to hear it out and then say, “Psst. Simmer down, I’ve got work to do.” Here’s how I tamed and befriended Dread Buddy. <h1>Two linguistic magic tricks for bewildering beasts</h1> I was eventually able to calm my pre-meeting dread. It started with some useful magic words that gave me <a href="https://www.witten.kim/blog/how-to-recognise-your-stories-and-deal-with-unpleasant-emotions" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">a necessary perspective shift</a>. <h2>This is the part where…</h2> Just like how it can be hard to see what’s going on with <a href="https://witten.kim/coaching" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">the chair you’re sitting in</a>, sometimes we need to get emotional distance from a situation. <blockquote> “[This is the part where] helps us access a future perspective. We’re looking at it from a place where the story has already moved on and we can look back with more peace and compassion.” — Master Coach <a href="https://unfuckyourbrain.com/about/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Kara Loewentheil</a> in a podcast episode called <a href="https://unfuckyourbrain.com/this-is-the-part-where/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">This is the part where…</a> </blockquote> To cast your time-travel spell, start with the phrase, “This is the part where…” and fill in the rest with a summary of your current situation. <a href="https://medium.com/@KimWitten/befriend-your-dread-buddy-2d678c10e3bb">Read More</a>