Our anxious or unhelpful thoughts can trick us into thinking that bad things will happen. These thoughts are called “stinking thinking”! When we are anxious, we think the chances of something bad happening are way higher than they really are. Practicing steps of your mission plan can be like an experiment to test if our stinking thinking or fears are right or wrong.
Do you remember your practice log that you made last week? This week, we are going to add one more thing to your log after you practice a step of your mission plan - did you learn anything new? By filling out this last column, you will be able to look back at your anxious or unhelpful thoughts and see if they are right or wrong.
Here is Neil’s updated Mission Plan Practice Log as an example. You will see that he learns most of the time the practice is less scary than he thinks. On one day, it is scarier than he thinks, but he still tried his best and is ready to practice again the next day with an easier mission goal:
Mission Plan Practice Log
View a PDF version.
| Date | Mission Plan Practice Activity | Reward | Anxiety Dial Rating: 0 - 10 or easy / medium / hard | Did you learn anything new? For example: did it go better than you thought it would? Was it easier than you expected? Did it get easier the more you did it? Did you get to do anything fun because of it? |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | I sat in a dark room with my mom for 2 minutes at 4 p.m. when it was still bright outside. | 1 Brave Buck | Before | During | After | It was scary at first, but then I felt better. I thought I wouldn’t be able to sit in the dark for 2 minutes straight, but 2 minutes was pretty short. I think I can try longer next time. My mom was really proud of me. |
| Medium | Medium | Easy | ||||
| Tuesday | I was by myself in a dark room with one of my nightlights on and my mom was not there. It was around 5 p.m. so it was getting a little dark outside. |
3 Brave Buck | Before | During | After | It was less scary than I thought it would be! I usually have two nightlights, but one nightlight was bright enough. I thought I would start crying and call for my mom, but I didn’t. |
| Medium | Hard | Easy | ||||
| Wednesday | I was by myself without my mom in the dark with a nightlight for 5 minutes. | 3 Brave Buck | Before | During | After | It was scarier than I thought and mom came back in my room. I’ll try again tomorrow for only two minutes. |
| Medium | Hard | Hard | ||||
Here is your Mission Plan Practice Log to fill out this week, or make your own with the template below. Whenever you complete a step this week, fill it in with your parent to keep track of all the awesome things you do (and the rewards to get for them)! Remember to write what you learned after practicing your mission plan as well!
| Date | Mission Plan Practice Activity | Reward | Anxiety Dial Rating: 0 - 10 or easy / medium / hard | Did you learn anything new? For example: did it go better than you thought it would? Was it easier than you expected? Did it get easier the more you did it? Did you get to do anything fun because of it? |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | During | After | ||||
Ready for a new mission plan?
If you would like to focus on your first mission plan, great idea! Keep going!
However, if you feel you are ready to work on another fear, try to make a new mission plan on it. Talk to your parent and create one by looking at Week 4 again.
