An emotional-avoidance worksheet records the task you postpone and the feeling you expect it to bring. Treat the explanation as a hypothesis: discomfort may matter, while exhaustion, missing information, and competing obligations can also matter.
Work through these questions: Request the venue quote
Completed fictional example — SAMPLE DATA
This example shows how to fill in the form. It is not a real person’s record, a diagnosis, a validated assessment or a promised outcome. Use your own observations and appropriate professional advice for actual health concerns.
| Question or field | Your entry |
|---|---|
| Which task did I avoid? | Open the event budget |
| What feeling did I predict? | I predicted embarrassment about an unfinished draft |
| What did I do instead? | Rearranged the folder instead |
| What real constraint exists? | The venue estimate is still missing |
| What smallest contact is feasible? | Open the file and mark that missing estimate |
Blank worksheet — copy or print
Copy the form into your own private document or print this page. Replace each “Your entry” cell with your own note; leave anything uncertain clearly marked as unknown. This page does not save or submit your entries.
| Question or field | Your entry |
|---|---|
| Which task did I avoid? | Your entry |
| What feeling did I predict? | Your entry |
| What did I do instead? | Your entry |
| What real constraint exists? | Your entry |
| What smallest contact is feasible? | Your entry |
Completed example
| Question or field | Fictional completed example |
|---|---|
| Which task did I avoid? | Request the venue quote |
| What feeling did I predict? | Embarrassment about budget |
| What did I do instead? | Sorted old email |
| What real constraint exists? | Venue contact details were available |
| What smallest contact is feasible? | Send one price question |
A worked situation: Request the venue quote
Fictional example. An organizer cleans her inbox rather than asking a venue for its price. She suspects the quote could expose an unaffordable plan; the missing price remains useful information, even if the feeling stays uncomfortable.
Record avoidance without assigning a hidden motive
Name the postponed task and the feeling you expected before it. Then record the substitute activity. "I expected embarrassment" is different from "embarrassment caused everything." If the task genuinely lacked information or exceeded your capacity, keep that fact in the constraint column. Choose contact with the task only when it is safe and useful; this worksheet is not exposure therapy.