How I Try to Worry Less
Worrying is something that I find myself doing constantly, as I tend to live in futures that don’t exist. I have been trying to find solutions to my worries as it doesn’t do me any good and leads to a lot of anxiety. However, this has been a difficult process for me and I have realized that I can never stop worrying or find a cure to my worrying but rather approach it through some techniques that I have learned along the way.
The first thing I learned was that worrying has no benefit. No matter how much I worry nothing will change. My worrying does not affect the external world as it is all in my head. This is mainly an issue with the mind and is something that I have to remind myself when I am starting to worry, but I will admit it is quite difficult.
The next thing I learned is to practice mindfulness and meditation. I am constantly zoning out and find myself lost in my imagination. It is really difficult for me to stay present which is quite annoying sometimes. I have started meditating, which I found has helped me a lot not only for my worrying but also for my mental health. However, meditation is not a cure but a technique that one can utilize to help them stay more present and get out of their head
Now here are three techniques that I use to help myself to stop worrying in the moment.
The first one is asking myself if I can fix the problem now. Most of the time our worries stem from some problem or issue that we are dealing with. Many times the problem is unfixable or out of our control. Thus I ask myself, can I fix it? If I can’t, then I tell myself to stop worrying. Sometimes if my mind wants to listen then it will stop worrying, other times it can’t and that is okay. I just let my mind do the worrying until it gets bored or tired.
The second technique I utilize is to start naming objects around me out loud. Most of my anxiety is caused by not staying in the present and diving into the many futures that I conjure up in my head. When these futures get dreadful, I realize that I need to focus my attention on the present and what is around me. This is when I just start naming stuff around me like “chair, lamp, computer, desk, bed.” This helps me calm down as my mind is now focusing on what’s around me rather than what’s in my head, and thus helps me stop worrying.
The third technique I use is telling myself I cannot worry in my bed. If I notice I am in an anxious state before bed I take some deep breaths to calm down and tell myself that I am not allowed to worry once I am in bed. This works sometimes when my mind is willing to cooperate but other times it does nothing. However, if I can stop worrying 3-4 days of the week when I go to bed I will take it.
Overall worrying and anxiety is really annoying and I hate it. Sometimes it gets really bad to a point where I can’t sleep or eat properly. These are the techniques that I have developed or learned on my journey to worry less and I hope they are helpful for you as well. I would like to learn more so if you have any suggestions please comment below. As always, thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.
One resource that greatly helped me understand worrying and anxiety was from Dr. K, link below: