Hey little legends,
Welcome back.
I'm Steph.
Welcome to Steph and the Storytime Crew.
These stories are designed just for you.
They're a little bit silly,
A little bit cheeky,
And full of heart.
They're stories with larger than life characters that are oh so relatable,
That help your body relax,
Your mind feel calm,
And your feelings feel seen and safe.
All while helping you wind down,
Breathe deeper and feel just a little bit safer,
Just as you are.
So let's get snuggled in.
Let's take a big deep breath in and out.
Let your arms and legs go floppy like spaghetti.
And let's drift off into the land of stories and shenanigans.
High up in the gum trees,
Deep in the Australian bush,
Where the leaves whispered gently and the branches swayed like sleepy hammocks,
Lived everyone's favourite Storytime Crew character,
Coda the Koala.
Coda had soft grey fur,
Big curious eyes,
And a brain that liked to think about everything,
Normally at the same time,
Especially worries.
His brain was always thinking about worries.
Coda had worries about climbing too high,
Worries about saying the wrong thing,
Worries about what other animals might think about him,
And even worries about having too many worries.
Which if you think about it guys,
It's kind of a lot of worrying,
Isn't it?
The tricky part was,
Coda's worries didn't come one at a time.
Oh no,
They piled up like a messy stack of old socks strewn all over the space in his head.
What if I fail?
What if I fall?
What if I mess it all up?
What if everyone notices?
What if I accidentally wave back at someone who actually wasn't waving at me?
Oh gosh.
By the way guys,
That's happened.
Twice.
Oh the embarrassment.
By the end of each day,
Coda felt exhausted.
He hadn't even left the safety and comfort of his favourite branch in his favourite tree.
One morning,
After a particularly busy night of worrying about,
Well,
Everything,
Coda huffed,
I wish all of these worries would just go away.
Wow,
That's rude.
Coda froze.
That voice,
Who was it?
He scratched his belly and his ear at the same time.
It definitely wasn't his voice.
Slowly,
Very,
Very slowly,
Coda turned around and sitting right behind him was the strangest little creature he had ever seen.
It was small and squishy,
With wiggly edges and eyes that were just a little too big for its face.
It kept changing colour too.
Grey,
Then purple,
Then a flash of panicky yellow green.
Uh,
Hello?
Coda said.
Hello,
Said the creature.
I'm Wuggles.
Coda blinked.
Wuggles?
That's right,
I'm Wuggles the Worrywart,
It said proudly,
Doing a tiny little wiggle and a little wobble all at the same time.
Coda stared.
You're my worry?
Yeah,
One of them,
Said Wuggles.
You've got quite a collection going on,
Coda.
It's quite impressive,
But also slightly chaotic.
Coda crossed his arms.
Well,
I don't want you here.
I don't want to talk to you,
And I don't want to become friends with you.
You make everything worse.
I try to push you away.
I try to ignore you,
But you just come back bigger.
Wuggles nodded.
Yep,
That's classic Worrywart behaviour right there,
Coda.
Coda sighed.
So what am I supposed to do then?
Just let you run my whole life?
Wuggles tilted his head to the side.
Or perhaps you could try something totally different and left field,
Coda.
Coda closed one eye and squinted the other.
I don't like the sound of that,
He said.
Wuggles leaned in like he was about to share the greatest secret in the whole universe.
What if,
Coda,
Instead of fighting me,
You got curious about me?
Oh,
Coda scratched his head.
Curious?
What do you mean,
About you?
Yeah,
Wuggles said.
You're literally the reason I feel like a nervous Nelly 24-7.
Wow,
Wuggles said.
That feels a tad unnecessary,
Coda.
Coda took a big,
Deep breath.
Ah,
Fine.
Give it one try,
Okay?
Coda looked right at Wuggles.
Hello,
Wuggles the Worrywart,
He said very guardedly.
And just like that,
Something already started to shift in Coda's body.
That tight feeling in his chest had softened.
Just a little bit.
That was really good,
Said Wuggles gently.
Now ask me what I'm doing here.
Coda hesitated and then asked,
All right,
Um,
What are you doing here?
Wuggles puffed up and was instantly three times bigger than he was just a moment ago.
Well,
Coda,
I'm trying to protect you.
Oh,
Coda said,
From,
Uh,
From what?
From getting embarrassed,
From getting hurt,
From things going wrong,
From saying something weird and then thinking about it for the next three years.
They're just a couple of examples,
Wuggles said.
Oh,
All right,
That last one feels very specific to me,
Coda said.
And then Coda paused.
Oh,
He'd actually never thought about it like this before.
Maybe Wuggles wasn't just being annoying.
Maybe he was actually trying to help.
Just in a really unhelpful and very loud kind of way.
OK,
Coda said.
I think I get it.
Coda leaned in a bit closer.
What shape are you?
Wuggles straightened.
Well,
I'm a premium swirl,
He said.
You look like a squished marshmallow,
Coda replied.
Oh,
How dare you?
Wuggles muttered.
What colour are you?
Coda asked.
Hmm,
I'm mostly grey with a hint of dramatic purple.
Oh,
Of course,
There's dramatic purple,
Coda said,
Rolling his eyes.
The next question Coda asked was,
Well,
What makes you bigger?
Wuggles didn't hesitate.
When you try to shove me away or pretend I'm not here or panic about me being around.
Coda nodded.
Yep,
OK,
I have been doing all of those things,
Haven't I?
Wuggles nodded.
What makes you smaller?
Coda asked.
Now he was really intrigued.
Wuggles smiled.
Well,
When you stop fighting me or pushing me away or when you just stop and listen and then you realise you've got this.
Coda took a slow breath in and out.
Why hadn't he thought of it like this before?
Coda placed his furry little paw on his chest and he realised he felt better already.
OK,
I hear you,
Wuggles the Worrywart,
He said kindly.
Thank you for trying to help me.
I really,
Really appreciate it.
Wuggles softened.
But Coda added,
I've got this.
You don't need to be in charge right now.
And just then something amazing happened.
Wuggles didn't disappear,
But he did shrink massively.
He went from being a big,
Bouncy,
Overwhelming bit of fluff to a small,
Wiggly little companion.
He was still there,
Just not in control right now.
For the rest of the day,
Coda tried what Wuggles had suggested.
Then the next day he tried again and again and again,
Before long a week had gone by and every time Wuggles popped up.
Coda didn't panic and he didn't fight back against him or try to bury his head in the sandpit and ignore him altogether.
He just smiled and said,
Hello,
Wuggles the Worrywart.
What are you trying to help me with today?
And slowly,
Quietly,
And guys oh so powerfully,
Coda's worries stopped running the show.
Now here's Coda's secret,
My little legends.
If a worry pops into your mind today or tonight,
You don't have to fight it.
You don't have to push it down and you don't have to run away from it.
You can try this instead.
Place one hand on your heart.
Let's take a slow breath in and then we breathe it out.
And then we softly say,
Hello,
Wuggles the Worrywart.
We can pause for a moment and then we ask,
What are you trying to help me with right now?
And maybe your worry says,
I'm trying to keep you safe or I'm trying to stop you from getting hurt or I'm trying to help you get it right.
And then you can say back to Wuggles the Worrywart,
Thank you,
Wuggles,
But I've got this.
Now you can imagine your worry.
What shape is it?
What colour is it?
Is it big or is it small?
And maybe now it's actually small enough to sit right beside you instead of right on top of you.
Let's take one more slow breath in and out.
Let your body feel heavy and calm.
Just like Coda,
You can rest.
Knowing your worry doesn't get to be the body.
It doesn't get to be the boss around here anymore.
Thank you for joining me for another step in the Storytime Crew story.
Until next time,
Bye.
