Rewire Anxious Thinking: 7-Day CBT Challenge

✍️ Right now, think of the last time anxiety spiked this week. What was the story your mind was telling — the imagined future, the assumed judgment, the worst case? Write the story in one or two sentences, then answer honestly: what actually, verifiably happened? Seeing the gap between the story and the facts is your first rep.

📓 This is your core tool for the challenge, built on the CBT structure from Barbara's video: situation, thought, response. Every time anxiety shows up — a knot in your stomach, racing thoughts, that urge to check or avoid — come back here and log it as soon as you can. Writing it down pulls the story out of your head where you can actually work with it.

🔁 I logged each anxious moment I noticed today — situation, story, body response, facts — without judging myself for having it

• I wrote down the behavioral tool from the video in my own words, in one sentence
• I picked one situation from my thought record where I usually avoid, check, or escape
• I used the tool in that situation today — even a small, imperfect version counts
• I logged what happened right after: what I predicted vs. what actually occurred

✍️ Scan your thought record: which anxious stories trace back to a missing boundary — saying yes when you meant no, being available to everyone, taking on what isn't yours? Pick ONE small boundary you can set in the next 24 hours. Write exactly what you'll say or do, to whom, and when. Small and real beats big and theoretical.

• I reread my thought record and named my top recurring made-up story
• I wrote my early-warning sign: the first body signal that tells me a story has started
• I wrote my if-then plan: "If I catch the story, then I check the facts and use my behavioral tool"
• I wrote the one boundary I'm keeping beyond this challenge — and delivered on the one I set yesterday