Have you ever thought about how much time and energy is devoted to worrying about things that never happen—or those that, even if they did, we couldn’t control, or we’d know what to do when they actually did happen? For many, the constant state is wondering and worrying about when the other shoe is going to drop. Life is going to happen. You are going to age. Your pet will—at some point—get sick and die. Your savings might get depleted when a major unexpected event happens. You might not meet the partner of your dreams. Your money may run out before your rent payment is due. Your health may decline. I’m not saying this to make you more worried; these are facts of life.
When difficult things happen, you have to deal with them. There is no staying in bed and pulling up the covers indefinitely. While it might work for a day, or even two, eventually you have to face whatever is going on and deal with it.
The problem with worrying about it and trying to figure it all out in advance of the actual event, whatever it may be, is that the act of worrying and watching and waiting depletes your mental and physical energy. You are expending negative energy in advance—so when the event occurs and you need all of your resources, you don’t have the ability to deal with things as you would if you had been sleeping, resting, focused on positive things, and overall taking care of yourself. It becomes a vicious cycle: Worry about it. Wait for it to happen. It may happen—although many things never do—and when it does, “fight or flight” kicks in, and your world becomes centered around whatever you are dealing with at that moment.
Practice bringing yourself back to the present when you do find your mind worrying and wandering and being negative before anything has even happened. Even when something does happen, having an anxiety attack in preparation for dealing with it depletes your reserves. To turn your attention away from the worry and grab your energy back, the next time you notice negative thoughts coming in, uninvite them! To do this:
1. Notice Your Triggers
When you worry, do you notice that your hands sweat? Your heart palpitates? Your focus gets bleary? Do you find yourself ruminating and running the same story over and over? Everyone manifests negativity differently. Discover how your body and mind react, and allow this to be the cue that you need to take action.
2. Use Your Imagination
To interrupt your worried thoughts, imagine as best you can a big red STOP! sign in your mind. STOP those worries from turning over and over again. You might have to bring the STOP sign into focus several times to cease the worried thoughts.
3. Turn Your Attention To Something Positive
Try keeping a “thankful” journal which you can pull out anytime you need to and read what you have that you are thankful for in your life. Have a song that energizes you and makes you happy. Read a poem or a letter from a friend you cherish. Have something ready that is a happiness factor for you and once you break the worrying cycle of thoughts, you need to replace them with positive things.
4. Consider Making a Plan
If you do encounter the thing you fear, what will you do about it? Make a list. Find some resources. Talk to someone who has been through it and get ideas. Build an “I’m Ready” box. This is no different than having a plan for emergencies, such as a disaster recovery plan. But once you have your box ready and set, put it away, and don’t even think about it until you need it.
5. Create a “Things to Worry About” Box
Use a real shoebox with a slot cut on the top of it. Every time you do find yourself worrying, write down the worry and put it in the box. Decide to forget about it, because it is captured in the box and you can pull it out anytime you need to. However, don’t take them out just yet! At the end of every couple of months, review your worries. Tear up those that never came to fruition and throw them out. Those that might still happen stay in the box
6. Find Things Every Day That Bring You Joy
Remember that it is often the little thing we cherish most. Turn your attention to these throughout your day whenever you need a boost. Positive energy builds you up; find as much of it as you can, so you are strong and ready when trouble comes along and you need to deal with it.
Final Words
Work towards being more present. Learn how to live more at the moment and you’ll begin to understand how little all that overthinking accomplishes. Being aware of tendencies to overanalyze everything is the first step, and working towards being more mindful of these issues will give you power. It takes time to become the type of person that is confident in their decisions. It is not an easy process as we seem hard-wired to worry about the impact of even the smallest choices. By creating awareness and following these steps you can create healthier habits that will make you feel reassured in every aspect of your life.
So if you really love yourself, stop thinking much about things and start living. Give yourself some alone time in which you can do things that you like for yourself. Go on a drive alone, listen to some soft music or talk to a person whom you like. Don’t kill your desire or wish, just do whatever makes you happy. Start living your day the way you want to. As someone has said, Doing what you like is freedom, and liking what you do is happiness!
Article Credit: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understand-other-people/202103/how-stop-worrying-and-start-living https://www.truelemon.com/blogs/tc/overthinking-stop-worrying-live https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/straighttalk/special-category-status-although-a-sentimental-issue-for-andhra-pradesh-but-people-are-fooled-by-misinformation-and-rhetoric-2817/
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