Free your mind by learning how to stop worrying about everything that happens in your life.
Worrying is exhausting.
What we are worrying about usually hasn’t even happened yet. We just think that there is a potential for this awful thing to happen. The potential awful thing turns into this elaborate scenario in our head. Then we play these scenarios over and over in our minds.
That constant string of thoughts in your mind keeps your body on high alert. Finding any peace or comfort while worrying is almost impossible. It casts this cloud over anything you do.
The mental space that worry takes up can be overwhelming with other negative side effects.
It affects your focus, logical thought process, sleep patterns, eating habits, memory, and can affect your health.
So, why do we worry? How do we stop worrying?
Why we worry…
Worry is something we create ourselves inside ourselves.
Often when we talk about worrying it is because of the cause of something outside of us.
Our husband hasn’t called us at the normal time so we start worrying maybe he got into a car accident.
There is a party or event coming up and your worried what people think of you.
You get sick and have certain symptoms and are worrying you have a terrible disease.
The list goes on and on. But the one common theme is that it isn’t what is happening outside of us that is the cause it is what is happening inside of us.
Other people can be in these exact scenarios and have zero worry. That is how we know it is inside of us.
The husband didn’t call – he probably just got busy or distracted.
There’s a party or event – can’t wait to show off a new outfit or haircut.
They get sick and have certain symptoms – I’ll make a doctor’s appointment.
It is never something outside of us in the world that is causing the worry. Now you get to shift from thinking that things outside of you have to change to knowing you have the power to eliminate worry from your life.
How to stop worrying
Control
Grab control where you can and release control where you can’t.
You cannot control other people. People get to do whatever they want. What you can control is yourself in those situations.
When you try to control facts or what has happened is when you end up in a thought circle.
If, you sent in an assignment at work then realized there was an error in it worry may take over and cause you to convince yourself that your boss is going to fire you then your going to lose your house and everything else. Look how quickly that escalated. Over something that hasn’t happened and that you have no proof is going to happen. Beyond that you don’t get control over what they decide to do. Piling worry on is not going to help.
Take a moment to look at the situation in front of you. Break it down to the facts, take away all those adjectives those are opinions. Decide what part of the situation you can take control over and which you need to just allow and manage what is happening inside of you.
Just do it
How many things that you are worrying about could just be eliminated if you just did it.
We agonize over having to do something when it usually is no big deal and could be over in no time.
Getting your taxes done is a great example of this. You stress out and start thinking all these crazy thoughts. Your sure that something is going to go wrong, your going to owe all this money, its going to be this super hard process and you keep putting it off. Finally, you spend thirty minutes doing them yourselves or handing documents over to a CPA and its over. Nothing bad happened.
You caused all this unnecessary angst in your life because of something that could potentially happen instead of just dealing with it. When you need to take action but worry starts bubbling to the surface just do it.
Don’t trust yourself
You can’t be trusted when your worrying. You create these catastrophes in your mind that may be the end of the world. Be wary of what you tell yourself.
A good exercise to see the validity of something is to tell it to someone else. If, you start thinking about telling someone it may cause you to pause. You start realizing the absurdity of your thoughts and may bring your calmer mind back to the forefront to handle the situation at hand.
Now if your brain is still pushing that worry is necessary and these awful things are still imminent challenge it. Ask it why it thinks that? What proof does it have? Does it have to think like that?
Those questions can be grounding for you when your thoughts are trying to take off.
You have options
Worry is never useful.
There is no time that worrying will bring positive things to your life.
You may argue that worrying about things helps you be prepared. I say that is the wrong energy to bring to being prepared.
You can come from so many different places that will get you the same result without the negative side effects.
Here is what you can use instead of worry to be prepared and think things over –
- Curious
- Fascinated
- Intrigued
- Inquisitive
- Inspired
- Attentive
- Motivated
- Engaged
- Productive
- Creative
- Focused
Final Thoughts –
Eliminating worry from your life can free up space inside your mind for the positive and helpful thoughts. It can be liberating to take control of your mind but it is also hard work and will not happen overnight. Be patient and be kind to yourself as you begin your journey learning how to stop worrying about everything.
Bring awareness to the fact that worry is happening inside of you. This is probably the one thing in this guide that you are arguing with.
I would love to discuss that further with you and answer any questions you have – send me an email (melissa@melissagolas.com) or go here.