Constantly Worrying About Everything?

Are you a worrier about anything and everything that you can worry about? Maybe it’s work that’s constantly bugging you where you feel like you’re not good/fast/creative enough. Or perhaps something personal or an important relationship is causing you to have sleepless nights, endless worries. If everything is a worst-case scenario to you, then it’s time to address all that anxiety.

Know that some worry in life is normal – nobody goes through life without a worry here or there. But for some people (maybe you?), it can be a constant battle to get anxiety out so you can focus on the good and on the present.

Here’s how else worry can get to you:

• Too much worry can make it difficult to enjoy life. You’re after all just looking at the negative side of things – where’s the fun in that?
• You can suffer from physical symptoms. Unfortunately, all that worry can manifest into physical aches and pains like muscle tension, back pain, panic attacks, and insomnia.
• It can interfere with your work. When you worry too much about not doing well, you’re not directing your focus on how to do well but instead dwell too much on what you’re not doing. It’s counterproductive!

So why can’t you stop worrying? For starters, it’s easy to get caught up in a cycle of anxious and worry. Also, because life’s so unpredictable, it makes these “What if I lose my job/What if I fail terribly” questions impossible to firmly resolve! And that’s how we get stuck, mulling over these worries often imagining the worst possible outcome.

But wait, what if we told you that you can get yourself “unstuck”? Here are three tips to get you started on alleviating some of that anxiety and worry from your life.

#1 Use the 333 Rule
When you feel like your anxiety is getting out of hand, do this: Identify 3 objects, 3 sounds, and then move 3 body parts. This helps you ground yourself and calm down in a moment when you’re feeling particularly overwhelmed. Although it won’t completely get rid of your anxiety or worry, it will be a useful tool to manage whatever worries you have in the moment.

#2 Put your mind elsewhere
It’s not as easy as it sounds especially when your mind is clouded with all that anxiety but being able to do this will definitely help you get your mind off your worries. Start by making a list of activities that you can do. Label that list “What I can do instead of worrying”. Then write down activities you find joy in doing and more importantly, will put your mind elsewhere.

Maybe it’s exercise, watching Netflix, reading a good book. Your list can go on and on… and it should! This way, you’ll notice that instead of spending all those hours worrying about things you don’t have control of, you can instead spend time doing the things you like.

Or you could distract yourself by doing chores, organising your home, do something creative, or bake from a favourite food blog. Before you know it, your worries seem less important than you making good use of that time!

#3 Keep a journal
There are many benefits to journaling – relieving worries and anxiety is one of them! Writing down your worries is a way to manage and let go. Confronting them this way may feel intimidating at first but once you get the flow started, it will feel very therapeutic to do so. Consider writing about why you are worried in the first place, what are some of the possible outcomes of those worries, what if the outcome might not be as bad as you fear, and how you want to address these worries in the right way. If anything, just letting all your worries flow freely on paper will help you feel a little less burdened.

Do you have a special way of dealing with worries and anxieties? Share them with us @Graduan!

Photo by William Farlow on Unsplash.