Maya's Worry Jar

Maya sat at the breakfast table, pushing her cereal around in circles. Her stomach felt tight and twisty. Today was the school science fair, and she couldn't stop thinking about all the things that might go wrong. What if her volcano didn't erupt? What if she forgot her speech? What if everyone laughed?

Her grandmother, who was visiting from Korea, noticed Maya's worried face. 'Little flower,' she said gently, 'you have the worry clouds again.' Maya nodded. Grandma always understood. 'I have so many worries, Grandma. They keep spinning around and around in my head like a tornado.'

Grandma smiled and pulled out an empty glass jar from the cupboard. 'In Korea, when I was a little girl, my grandmother taught me something special. She called it the Worry Jar.' Maya looked at the jar curiously. 'How does it work?' she asked.

Grandma handed Maya some colorful sticky notes and a pen. 'First, you write down each worry. One worry per paper. Then you fold it up and put it in the jar. This way, your worries have a place to go instead of spinning in your mind.' Maya thought about this. It sounded almost too simple to work.

But Maya decided to try. She wrote her first worry: 'What if my volcano doesn't work?' She folded the paper and dropped it into the jar. It made a soft sound as it landed at the bottom. Somehow, just writing it down made the worry feel a little smaller, like it wasn't taking up so much space in her chest anymore.

Maya wrote down her second worry, then her third. With each folded paper that dropped into the jar, she felt a little lighter. 'Now,' said Grandma, 'at the end of each day, you can take out one worry and look at it. Ask yourself: Did this worry come true? Can I do something about it? Or can I let it go?'

At the science fair, Maya's volcano erupted perfectly! Red foam bubbled over the sides just like she'd practiced. She remembered her speech, and three people asked her questions about how volcanoes work in real life. Maya felt proud and excited. Not a single one of her worries had come true.

That evening, Maya sat with her Worry Jar. She pulled out the first note and unfolded it. 'What if my volcano doesn't work?' She smiled. It had worked beautifully! She crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the recycling bin. That worry was done.

Over the next few weeks, Maya used her Worry Jar whenever the tornado of worries started spinning. Sometimes the worries came true and she could make a plan. Sometimes they didn't come true at all. And sometimes, she realized a worry was too big for her alone, and she could ask for help. The jar didn't make worries disappear, but it gave them a place to go.

Maya hugged her grandmother tight before she left to go back to Korea. 'Thank you for teaching me about the Worry Jar, Grandma,' she whispered. Grandma kissed her forehead. 'Remember, little flower, worries are normal. Everyone has them. The secret is not letting them take over your whole garden.' Maya nodded. She understood now. Worries were just one small part of her, not all of her.

The End. Thank you for listening to Story Time with Ms Erica