Worrying Too Much

And that's what chronic worriers do. They're so afraid of uncertainty, and so unwilling to live with it, that they trick themselves into thinking they can make the future less uncertain - by thinking about it constantly!

Chronic worriers live under the illusion that thinking is always problem-solving and that planning always leads to greater levels of preparedness. But neither of those are true:

• Just because you're thinking about a problem doesn't mean you're thinking about it productively.
• And just because you're planning - running through countless hypothetical future scenarios - doesn't mean you're any better equipped to handle them. Often, you're just making yourself feel more prepared.