It’s perfectly acceptable and even natural to worry. However, you start to sense an intense desire for relief—from the thoughts, the feelings, and anything else you just can’t seem to shake—when worrying takes over and starts to affect your day-to-day activities.
The definition of worry as a noun per the Oxford Dictionary is “A state of anxiety and uncertainty over actual or potential problems.” It means “to give way to anxiety or unease; to allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles” when used as a verb.
Worrying can also be considered a poor coping technique, at least when left unchecked. Indeed, there are some useful reasons to worry. After all, without a little worry or stress to guide us toward our goals, how could we really accomplish anything?
Without the ability to solve problems and the capacity to look to the past, we as a species would not be where we are today. These are the kinds of things that have really helped us to prepare for the future and learn from our past experiences.
In this sense, a healthy dose of anxiety might aid in our ability to solve problems and make plans. Worrying, however, stops being useful when we start to spiral, linger on, and catastrophize instead of solving problems.
There are several reasons why you could be more likely to worry or overthink things. Some of the causes include being amid strong emotions, growing up with parents who were always worried, or having mental health issues like PTSD, depression, or anxiety.
The secret is to be able to shift your focus back to solving problems rather than dwelling on them. We frequently classify a cognitive experience as a worry when it takes us outside of the realm in which we can sustain ourselves.
The effects of worries on one’s health
It’s no secret that stress negatively affects our health, and worrying all the time can have negative effects on your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
Tension triggers the release of a wide range of stress chemicals. Our bodies go into fight-or-flight mode when we worry because they are unable to distinguish between a real threat and a perceived one. We can feel this stress physically as a rapid heartbeat, tense muscles, and decreased immunity.
Chronic stress can cause various issues including heart disease, asthma, stomach ulcers, and stroke if it is not controlled over time. Chronic stress is also seen by many medical professionals as a major risk factor for grave illnesses including cancer and heart attacks.
Put simply, your body finds it extremely difficult to ignore persistent anxiety when it is causing mental distress and still does all its regular activities (such as restoring your immune system’s strength or getting your heart rate back to normal). Here are 6 ways to mindfully stop the worry woes:
1. Practice trust in yourself.
We worry a lot about things that might never happen or haven’t even happened yet. When it comes to the future, we fear the worst, worry that something will go wrong, and adhere to a strong need for control and assurance.
Here, the solution is to have faith in your own ability to manage the challenges life presents. Should the worst come to pass—which it most likely won’t—you will have the resilience to get through it.
Ultimately, you’ve come this far. You’ve handled issues that truly concerned you in the past when they materialized, and the same is true for anything else that might be in your path.
Remind yourself, “I have always overcome obstacles. With this comfort. I have faith in my ability to manage this and resolve this when the time comes.”
2. Take Time to Meditate.
Meditation deserves special attention since it’s among the most effective methods for beginning to separate yourself from your thoughts and reconnect with your worry-free self. You can try a variety of meditations to see which one suits you best.
3. Acquire the skill of observing your thoughts.
To modify any thought pattern, mindfulness, or connecting to your observing self, is essential. It’s the part of you that recognizes that the ideas you have are not a part of you and can observe yourself thinking and worrying. Your fears will be less intense the more you can access and recall that.
Considering this, engaging in activities like yoga, meditation, or even just spending time in nature might help you learn to detach your true self from your worrying thoughts and mental chatter. It is highly beneficial to practice any method of accessing that “sense of ourselves beyond ourselves.”
4. Give up trying to be in control of everything.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could control everything and there was nothing to worry about? Unfortunately, though, realizing that is a crucial piece of the unsettling puzzle.
It reminds me of the traditional serenity prayer: recognize the difference between the two, accept the things we cannot change, and change what we can.
Worrying can be greatly reduced by adopting the idea of acceptance—the readiness to acknowledge that we can’t always anticipate, control, or plan for everything.
5. Engage in activities you find enjoyable.
It may seem obvious, but there’s always more space in your life for happiness, love, and pleasure—especially if anxious thoughts have been occupying too much of it. Using delight can be a fantastic countermeasure for overthinking when it is combined with worry, anxiety, and sad ideas.
Make time for your favorite pursuits that let you escape your own thoughts, such as taking a dog for a walk or making a phone call to a friend. If you’re not sure what makes you happy, it’s worth exploring what does.
6. Be kind to yourself.
Since nobody is flawless, anxieties and concerns can affect everybody. It is not a weakness to overthink things. It has helped us throughout our lives. When it has made it harder for us to lead happy, satisfying lives, that just indicates that we should look for and try a different tool because it isn’t the ideal one for the job.
Bonus: Speak with a mental health specialist.
Finally, it is always beneficial to seek the advice and support of a professional, whether it be a traditional therapist, mentor, or spiritual coach, if you feel like your worries are taking over your life and negatively affecting your well-being.
Find a reliable person who understands how to hold the worry space in a constructive and beneficial way. Asking for assistance is perfectly acceptable, particularly if you feel like you can’t handle your issues alone.
To Wrap Things Up
We all experience concern, so it’s critical to have a toolkit of coping techniques to help you silence your inner critic and find peacefulness. You’ll experience so much relief when you can get an anxious mind back on track, even if it can take some time, patience, and concentration.
Don’t have time for the full article? Read this!
The blog post provides tips for letting go of excessive worry, acknowledging its natural aspect but emphasizing the need to address it when it interferes with daily life. It discusses the negative effects of chronic worrying on health and offers six mindfulness-based strategies to stop worrying, emphasizing self-trust, meditation, thought observation, relinquishing control, engaging in enjoyable activities, and self-compassion. The post encourages seeking professional help if worries become overwhelming and aims to help readers find calm amidst anxiety.
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