Rescheduling Appointments: Anxiety and Avoidance

I've written myself a short template along the lines of "hi, my name is X my phone number is X. I am calling today to cancel/reschedule with Dr. X. Thank you." If I'm rescheduling I'll end with Please text or email me with the next available dates and times. Luckily the admins I've said this to usually don't want to call me back so they'll send an email. But if they call back, depending on urgency, I let it go to voicemail and call them back when I got the spoons to

I have tried out typing the email without sending it, but putting it on a schedule so that it is sent more than 24 hours ahead of time to avoid the fees. I have a script saved and everything, that way it’s short, to the point, and I can avoid over explaining when my anxiety is in my head when putting the message together! Maybe try saving a basic script that goes something like, “hey, I need to reschedule my appointment for (date/time), when works for you to reschedule?” It offers no explanation/chance to over explain and sometimes I’ll include dates that are best for me to offer a replacement ahead of time. Then I’ll just put it on a scheduled send. It still has pressure, anxiety is like that, but it takes off some of the immediacy and urge to apologize/over explain. Hope this helps!!

Check with all the different ways you can contact them and which is the least stressfukn