Don’t Be a Worry Wart! How To Stop Worrying
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You may read all the books and magazines you like on the topic but until you recognize yourself as a chronic worrier and decide to put into action some of the tips I give you here, you won’t get out of the vicious web you’ve spun around yourself.
Worrying can be debilitating. It will affect your health–both physical and mental–and lead to depression and anxiety. It will take away from the joys of your daily life and reduce everything to insurmountable problems. Once you’ve acquired the habit it’s difficult to let go and it prevents you from thinking clearly about solutions to problems. It fogs up your brain and you will find yourself always stressed. How then do you go about stopping yourself from worrying yourself into insomnia and therapy?
The first step has been for you to diagnose yourself as a chronic worrier. Then you tell yourself that you don’t want to worry. After a while the insidious habit has become almost second nature to us so that we feel bereft if we’re not worrying about something. Once you’ve decided that you really, really want to get out of this habit you can take steps to do so.
An effective way to do this is to immediately jot down in a small notebook what exactly it is that worries you. It may even be a vague nebulous fear—you can still note it down. You give this concrete shape then and it may make you realize that perhaps it is not a thing you should be worrying about! Next, give yourself permission not to worry. Tell yourself that you can postpone the act of worrying to a later time.
Learn breathing techniques such as in yoga that you can put into practice. Breathe deeply and exhale slowly right to your diaphragm. You can chant something like a prayer or a mantra that helps fix your brain on the breathing and takes your mind off the worry. Keep doing this. If you can, however, take the time then go for a jog or a brisk walk. The adrenaline boost will clear your brain not to mention induce a deluge of endorphins that will make you more cheerful.
Also, try this. Make a note of what you worry about, then check to see if what you worried about actually came to pass. In most cases, your dread is about something that might never happen. So the next time you worry, remind yourself that actually what you fear might not take place. Keep telling yourself this and that should calm your mind. If you keep track of most of your fears and realize that you worried for nothing then you could recall the incidents and reassure yourself that you needn’t worry and that things will turn out right.
If you feel that your worrying is taking over your life and you really have no control over it then consult a physician. You can even try hypnotism to cure yourself of this syndrome.
In the end, however, you have to take the first step and free yourself from worrying. It will add days to life and happiness to your days.
Well written…and something I’ve tried to do. I’ve stopped worrying about things so much and let things fall where they may. Things happen, and I’ve learned that how I react to those things dictates more than waiting for things to happen. I take a much more relaxed approach to life, and I feel the rewards by doing that now.