Worry can consume you if you’re not careful. I know from experience that there are times in life when it can just take over. And it’s not good for you. It’s not good for your body, it’s not good for your soul. It can keep you from enjoying life. I am prone to worry, so I have to manage it each day. I have come across some strategies that have genuinely helped me deal with my worries. The big ones and the little ones.

Don’t let worry creep up on your joy. Don’t let it keep you from being in the moment. Most of our worries are about yesterday or tomorrow or things that will probably never happen. Let it go. Use these tips to help you…

Tips for Dealing with Worry

• Give yourself some worry time. Then move on. I learned this on the retreat I went to recently. The wonderful Dr. Janet Crain, a worrier by nature herself, gave this advice. Your worries are real, and sometimes your worries are very valid. Allow yourself time for your worry and then move on. If you give yourself ten minutes a day to worry you’re validating your worries without letting them take over. If you find yourself worrying during the rest of the day, you can stop it by saying it’s not the time for worrying. So take ten minutes- maybe first thing in the morning or before bed- and worry. Write your worries down or just sit and let them run amuck in your head. When the time is up take some deep breaths and shake it off and move forward.
• Put it in a God box. I learned this from an amazing friend. She gave me a pretty little box one day and called it a God box and explained how it could change my life. There are going to be things in life that are totally out of your control that will eat at you inside. Sometimes there will be nothing you can do. Sometimes you can try your best. But sometimes you just have to accept stepping back and letting the universe unfold as it should. That’s when you write the worry on a slip of paper and put it in the God box. You acknowledge your worry, you release control (that you never really had to begin with!), and you let God (or the universe or fate or whatever) take it from there. You can still pray and hope for the best, but you don’t let it consume you.
• Do a “brain dump.” Chalene Johson is very motivational and gives some great practical advice for taking charge of your life and happiness. (She has a great book, Push, that you can find here on Amazon!) One tip she gives is writing a brain dump. Write down every single little thing that you have to do or that you’re worrying about. Get it all out there on paper. Once it’s all out you’ll probably feel better right away. Then you can go about the task of prioritizing things to be done, crossing out things you can let go, and moving forward.
• Be Buddhist about it. I am not a Buddhist and I don’t know a whole lot about Buddhism. I felt drawn to learn more about Buddhism because of my worrying though. So I read a book about it this summer (Why Buddhism Is True by Robert Wright) and it made me kinda want to become a Buddhist. One thing I learned is to kind of separate yourself from your worry. See your worry as a separate entity, a little thing that is not part of you, just an outside thing. Acknowledge it as it floats into your head and then see it float away. Another thing I learned is that so much of what you worry about will never happen anyway. Remember that and push it away. Think about how much time you have spent worrying about something that never happened. Or worrying about something that ended up being not a big deal anyway. Don’t waste time with the negativity of worry about something that might not even happen.
• Talk about it. Talk about it with someone who will let you acknowledge it, and then help you through it. Whether that means reassuring you or telling you to let it go. Sometimes the perspective from someone else makes you see your worry in a new way. Sometimes just talking about it is enough to make you feel better and worry less. Just make sure you’re not choosing someone who will fuel your worry!
• Tackle what’s worrying you. Of course, sometimes the best thing to do is take action. If the worry is something you have control over and can do soemthing about, take action. Worrying about your child’s socialization? Reach out to his or her teacher and set up a time to talk. Worried about money? Make an appointment with a financial advisor and hatch a plan. In lots of cases, action can be the best way to alleviate worry. Take steps to do something about the root of the worry. Take one step forward and you’ll feel more in control of things.

The first two tips in this list are more about the worries that linger. Either the things you really have no control over or the things you’re working on that will take a while to resolve. Use them to cope with your ongoing worries. Hopefully, some of these tips will also help you with the worries that pop up every day.

Be kind to yourself. You won’t stop worrying miraculously, but these things can help you put your worry in perspective. They can help keep it at bay at those times it’s really getting to you. They can help you enjoy life more and focus on the good stuff, be present and in the moment.

Are you a worrier? Do you have any tips that help you manage your worry?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Share this with someone you love who worries too much! And be sure to subscribe to my blog 🙂