Alex's Answer

Hi there and welcome to Ask Alex.  

Thank you so much for getting in contact with the Ask Alex service. We know talking about what is going for you can be a difficult thing to do, but we also know how helpful it is for young people to share their thoughts and their emotions.   

We are sorry to hear that you have a lot of worries. It is really positive that you are expressing your feelings and seeking help. Having worries sometimes is a natural emotion for everyone however it can be problematic if we have these feelings occur more often or more intensely than they should. Here is a link to some useful articles on the Childline website that you might like to read: https://www.childline.ie/how-i-feel/.  

Have you had difficulty with excessive worrying in the past? If so, was there anything you did then that was helpful that you could try doing now to manage your worries? Healthy distractions such as reading, calling a friend or engaging in some light exercise might help you cope; would you be willing and able to try these out? Writing in a journal to get stuff off your chest and to help make sense of your feelings and worries can be useful for reducing stress and can provide a sense of relief. It can also be very helpful to talk to others about this. Do you have a trusted adult you could discuss it with? This can be a family member like parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or someone outside of the family like a teacher, neighbour, or sports coach. You might find that some of the adults in your life may have experienced similar worries when they were younger and therefore would be able to give you advice or help you get any support you may need.  

Remember, you can always phone Childline on 1800 66 66 66 to talk about what is going on for you if you don’t feel ready to talk to someone in your life quite yet. We are here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our text service, which can be reached on 50101 and Web Chat service through www.childline.ie, are also available daily. While we will not tell you what to do, we are here to listen to and support you, and to help you to explore the options that are available to you in your life. We are here to help you in a way that suits you.   

We hope that the information we have given you is useful.  Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any other questions.  

Take care,  

Alex