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Tools to assist us with worry
- Calm the nervous system with guided muscle relaxation, meditation, and exercise.
- Notice when you're worrying and any beliefs that reinforce worry. Awareness of the process gives us more choice in how we respond.
- Embrace uncertainty. Most of the things we care about in life involve uncertainty. It takes considerable practice to begin to embrace it.
- Live in the present. Practice focusing your attention on the present in everyday activities like taking a shower, walking, or talking with a friend, as well as in more formal practices like meditation or yoga.
- When we face our fears head-on, they tend to diminish. Deliberately accept what you're afraid of: "It's possible I'll miss my flight."
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
Each time we worry and nothing bad happens, our mind connects worry with preventing harm:
Worry → nothing bad happens.
And the takeaway is, "It's a good thing I worried."
- If I worry, I'll never have a bad surprise.
- It's safer if I worry. We believe that the act of worrying itself somehow lowers the likelihood of a dreaded outcome.
- I show I care by worrying. We need to distinguish between caring about a situation and worrying needlessly and fruitlessly about it.
- Worrying motivates me. We need to differentiate between unproductive worry and productive concern and problem solving.
- Worrying helps me solve problems. Extreme worry is more likely to interfere with problem-solving.
RELATED IDEAS
Worry is an attempt to mentally problem-solve something that either isn’t really a problem or isn’t a problem that’s solvable.
And while problem solving is typically helpful in our lives, worry is just a waste of time and energy if we know it can’t actually produce any results.
Focusing on worrying instead of solving your problems can become a form of procrastination. Plus, putting off responsibilities that you need to take care will only add to your worries.
Push past procrastination by making a list of all of the things that you need to get done. By writing a to-do list, you get all of those anxious thoughts out of your head and on paper.