HOW TO DEAL WITH WORRY USING A SIMPLE LIST

You ever wake up with the feeling like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? *looks around and raises my hand*

The buildup of being overwhelmed with responsibilities. The feeling of failure when you can’t seem to balance your personal and professional life. The intense irritation at trying to meet everyone’s expectations. It just gets to be too much and boils over until everything in us erupts. 

Merriam-Webster defines worry as:

• to subject to persistent or nagging attention or effort
• to feel or experience concern or anxiety
• to afflict with mental distress or agitation; make anxious

If worry was a room in your brain, what would the inside of that room contain? I suspect it would be a big mess filled with chaos and noise. This worry room is a distraction because the noise follows you all day, disrupts you at critical times, and sometimes never lets you get rest. Here are a couple of common things adults tend to worry about on a regular basis.

• Money (Lack of)
• Bills (Debt)
• Health
• Home (Security, Maintenance)
• Well-being of others (Family, Friends)
• The state of the World (Poverty, Crime, Laws)
• Environment (Natural Disasters)
• Purpose (Meaning of Life)

Worry can turn into a vicious cycle that invades and affects your perceptions and reactions towards what happens in life. When you are weighed down with emotional bondage, it’s really difficult to enjoy life. How you wake up and how you show up really depends on your mindset. Let’s learn how to deal with worry. 

The Worry List:

Thanks to Nicole Lyons from an article on the PsychCentral blog who mentioned this concept.

First things first. Write down 5 things that consistently leave you in a worried state of mind. These worries can be minor or major.

For each worry you have, answer the following four questions:

1. WHAT IS YOUR WORRY? Write down the specifics of what you are worried about in detail. Do not hold back or feel like it is ridiculous or weird. Do not try to edit this worry in your mind. When you finish, read it out loud.
2. IS THIS WORRY WITHIN YOUR CONTROL? Do you have any control over this state you are in?
3. IS THIS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX THE ISSUE? Is whatever you are worrying about tied to your personal responsibilities?
4. ACTIONS TO RESOLVE – What can I do to help resolve or find a solution to this issue?

Here’s what you’ll find:

A LOT OF THINGS ARE OUT OF OUR CONTROL.

I know this is a hard pill to swallow. We want to be Superwoman (and we are!!), but we are human first and this human experience can only be navigated to an extent. You can’t control whether the sun shines or the rain falls. You can’t control the actions of others. Therefore, it would serve you to concentrate on things you can control. Direct your attention on ways to improve yourself, and as an extension things around you will get better.

OUR MINDS CREATE MONSTERS THAT AREN’T THERE

Think about how often we self-diagnose everything in our lives. Your boss may be having a bad day and is not exactly nice, but you internalize it and are ready to pack up your office. Your arm was itching and now you’ve gone to WebMD and convinced yourself you have a disease. What we deem as problems are usually figments of our imagination. This is why identifying the issue can bring out the real why and you can be proactive in resolving it. Seeking solutions is never the first result and that is why worry wins the day. We rarely trust our instincts as well. If you’re feeling off, then confront it outright. Don’t let it bother you and turn into something ugly on the inside of your spirit.

worry is the absence of faith Click To Tweet

We ACT according to what we THINK and FEEL. Do not dismiss the things you worry about even if they seem insignificant. The Worry List will tremendously improve your mindset because the sooner you reflect on the WHY behind the worry and understand the role you play in making a decision or action, then you can gain the upper hand.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

I want to know how you deal with worry and how do you plan to handle at least ONE of your worries. You can do it!  

Source:  
Lyons, N. (2015). The Worry List. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 22, 2017, from https://blogs.psychcentral.com/embracing-balance/2015/05/the-worry-list/

XOXO