How to Make a DIY Worry Jar

Sometimes worries get stuck in your head, spinning around until they feel bigger than they are. A worry jar is a simple, creative way to take those thoughts out of your mind and put them somewhere safe — so they don’t control your whole day.

What You’ll Need

• A clean jar, box, or container with a lid

• Small slips of paper or sticky notes

• A pen or marker

• Optional: decorations like stickers, paint, or ribbon

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Decorate Your Jar (Optional but fun)

Make it colourful and personal — something you’ll actually want to look at. You could write “Worry Jar,” draw doodles, or cover it in positive quotes.

2. Write Down Your Worries

Whenever something is bothering you:

1. Write it on a slip of paper.

2. Fold it up.

3. Drop it in the jar.

3. Set “Worry Time”

Decide on a short, specific time each day (maybe 5–10 minutes) to open the jar and read your notes. During this time, you can:

• Think about possible solutions, or

• Simply acknowledge the worry and let it go for the day

4. Release or Keep

After you’ve read them, you can:

• Tear up the ones that don’t matter anymore, or

• Keep them in the jar to remind yourself that you’ve survived those feelings before

Why It Works

Writing worries down gets them out of your head. It also teaches you that you can choose when to deal with them — instead of letting them take over at random moments.

Extra Tip

You can also make a “Positivity Jar” alongside it. For every worry you write, try to write one thing you’re grateful for or something good that happened that day.

The Bottom Line

You can’t stop worries from popping up — but you can control how much space they take in your mind. A worry jar is a small, creative tool to help you take back that control.