by Stephanie Schwartz, M.S. 

The past week has been quite busy for me. First, I traveled to Denver to present at the American Psychological Association convention. While I would have enjoyed staying for the entirety of the conference and exploring the city of Denver, I was only there for 2 days as I had a wedding in New York to return for. I planned to be back from Denver for the Friday night wedding rehearsal dinner and I was expected to be present at 9AM on Saturday (the wedding day) to get ready with the bridal party and take pictures. Prior to the trip, I was frequently feeling anxious about various negative possibilities that could occur- being rushed in Denver, travel delays and not being back in time, and being exhausted the day of the wedding. I was able to recognize the various irrational beliefs I was holding associated to these different possibilities. I was able to challenge these beliefs, including, “I could not tolerate it if I was tired at the wedding” and “It would be terrible if I was late to the rehearsal dinner,” and replace them with rational beliefs, “While I may be uncomfortable, I can still tolerate being tired at the wedding” and “It would be bad if I was late to the rehearsal dinner but certainly not the end of the world.”  Doing so allowed me to enjoy the time I had in Denver, rather than disturbing myself about what could be.

Stephanie Schwartz