The next time you wake up in the middle of the night, worried and stressed about disappointing others, try this helpful stress-reducing tool:
Ask yourself: So what?”
Example:
So what if so-and-so is disappointed in you because you didn’t do x, y and z. What’s the worst that could happen?
Well, so-and-so may never want anything to do with me again.
Then you ask “so what” again. Repeat it again until you get to the bottom of it.
So what?
So … if that happens, I’ll probably feel like crap and be depressed for a while.
So what?
I guess that after a while, I’ll eventually get over it and move on.
So what?
So you know what? I’m going to be okay. I won’t be stressin’ about this person being disappointed in me 30 years from now.
By the end of this self-interrogation, you realize your problem that you’re worried about really isn’t as worrisome as you initially thought, quelling any tightness in your belly, replacing it instead with ease.
