Ecdysis
Diamond Member
This thread is for people who are, right in this moment, in a situation that they find difficult to bear.
I recently learned a new technique called 1% change.
I'm not going to write long explanations about it, just going to invite whoever wants to try it, to see if it helps them.
The point is that often, when we're in distress of some kind, our first instinct is to "make it go away" or to "fix the situation".
Often, that's not possible tho, either in the moment or generally. And that can feel overwhelming and even more distressing.
So, instead, start with 1%. What will make your distressing situation 1% better right now?
It should be something tiny. Something that's very easy to do. Something that would provide some kind of relief. Something that would lessen the distress by 1%.
It doesn't matter what it is, or what other people think of it. Other people's opinions are irrelevant. (If possible, it should not be a form of self-harm, but we're all adults here, so everyone will be making their own choices. But obviously, something not-self-harming would yield healthier results.)
For example, if work is super stressful, and going to the toilet and just spending 5 minutes sitting there quietly, even tho you don't need to go to the toilet... No matter how silly someone else might find that if they knew... If those 5 minutes of time-out make a 1% difference to your distress level, then do it. Try it. And see what the effect is of a 1% improvement.
...
So, right now, my situation is that the day (and the past ridiculous number of days) have been super stressful and I've got way too much adrenaline in my system that's keeping me stuck in a stress cycle... What's a 1% thing that I can do right now to change that a tiny bit?
-- > I can ban myself from doing any more work tasks on my to-do list today, which I have been working on obsessively and without breaks.... Force myself to truly take the rest of the day off... Without cheating and without sneaking any more work tasks in.
I recently learned a new technique called 1% change.
I'm not going to write long explanations about it, just going to invite whoever wants to try it, to see if it helps them.
The point is that often, when we're in distress of some kind, our first instinct is to "make it go away" or to "fix the situation".
Often, that's not possible tho, either in the moment or generally. And that can feel overwhelming and even more distressing.
So, instead, start with 1%. What will make your distressing situation 1% better right now?
It should be something tiny. Something that's very easy to do. Something that would provide some kind of relief. Something that would lessen the distress by 1%.
It doesn't matter what it is, or what other people think of it. Other people's opinions are irrelevant. (If possible, it should not be a form of self-harm, but we're all adults here, so everyone will be making their own choices. But obviously, something not-self-harming would yield healthier results.)
For example, if work is super stressful, and going to the toilet and just spending 5 minutes sitting there quietly, even tho you don't need to go to the toilet... No matter how silly someone else might find that if they knew... If those 5 minutes of time-out make a 1% difference to your distress level, then do it. Try it. And see what the effect is of a 1% improvement.
...
So, right now, my situation is that the day (and the past ridiculous number of days) have been super stressful and I've got way too much adrenaline in my system that's keeping me stuck in a stress cycle... What's a 1% thing that I can do right now to change that a tiny bit?
-- > I can ban myself from doing any more work tasks on my to-do list today, which I have been working on obsessively and without breaks.... Force myself to truly take the rest of the day off... Without cheating and without sneaking any more work tasks in.
