Not Worry About Something

When thinking over a problem provokes you to take action and make a change, then temporary worrying can prove to be helpful. However, when you find yourself mulling over a thought day in and day out, you become immobilized by fear and anxiety. Excessive worrying is bad for you. It can wreak havoc on your appetite, sleep quality, relationships, and work or school performance. Learn to not worry by finding healthy distractions.

Steps

Distracting Yourself

1. Call a friend. When you find yourself worrying, immediately get out of your head by getting in touch with a friend. Strike up a conversation about a relatively neutral topic unrelated to your worries. You can give your friend a heads up that you are worrying and need a distraction.
   • If your friend is reasonably logical and grounded, you might talk through your worries with him or her. He may be able to give you a recommendation on how to fix the problem (if there is a feasible solution), or help you to see how irrational a worry can be.
2. Listen to music. If your nerves are extremely on edge from nonstop worrying, try listening to classical music. Research shows that this type of music is most effective at reducing pulse and heart rate, lowering your blood pressure, and reducing the amount of stress hormones in the body. Classical music can also prevent the mind from wandering, making it a terrific aid in meditation.
3. Engage in a challenging activity. A great way to distract yourself from repetitive thoughts is to stimulate the mind in another way. Flip over the newspaper and complete the weekly crossword puzzle. Learn to play an instrument. Read a novel or a magazine article. Sit down with a friend and put together a jigsaw puzzle. Paint a picture. All of these brain exercises not only distract you from worrying, they reduce your risk of dementia, too.
4. Recite an alternative positive thought. Take your mind off what’s worrying you by purposefully repeating a statement that is conducive to calm. Instead of thinking of something that upsets you or causes you discomfort, become centered by an affirmation that creates a positive tone for your mind and your environment. Worry-free affirmations may include:
   • ”Keep calm and carry on”
   • ”Tomorrow is a brand new day”
   • ”Don’t sweat the small stuff”
   • ”I am a peace with myself”
   • ”Relaxing my mind is transforming my life”

Relaxing Your Mind

1. Perform a physical activity. Physical activity packs a three-fold punch of benefits: you get out of your head by getting your body moving, you improve physical health, and you are rewarded with endorphins that elevate mood and produce relaxation. Since excessive worry overloads your body with adrenaline and a “fight or flight” response, exercise provides you with an outlet for the surplus energy.
2. Try visual imagery. Visualization is a great tool to alleviate anxiety and worrying in the moment. It involves visualizing - with determination - yourself in an environment that brings you calm. The key is to think of a place, preferably one that you know, that naturally relaxes you.
   • Let’s say there was a meadow near your grandmother’s house where you used to play as a kid. There were beautiful flowers and soft mounds of grass and striking blue skies. If you notice yourself worrying about something, you might intentionally close your eyes and call up that safe place.
   • Go further than just how the place looks. Engage your other senses by thinking of how the birds sound, what the grass and flowers smell like, and what the ripe berries taste like on your tongue.
   • If you have difficulty calling up your own safe place, you can always visit YouTube for guided imagery videos that are effective at relaxing worrisome thoughts.
3. Practice progressive muscle relaxation. When we are worrying all the time our bodies physically become just as tense as our thoughts. Conducting regular sessions of progressive muscle relaxation allow you to get an understanding of what both relaxation and tension feel like. Then, once you get the hang of it, you are better able to cope with tension in daily life. Here’s how to do it:
   • Plan for about 15 minutes of quiet time. Locate a place where you can sit comfortably with minimal distractions. Start with one muscle group – your feet, for example. Contract the muscles in your toes and heels. Hold the tension for about 5 seconds. Notice what it feels like.
   • Then, release the tension and let all the tightness flow from your body. Notice what that relaxed state feels like. Stay in this relaxed state for about 15 seconds before moving on to a new muscle group, tensing and relaxing in turn. Move up through the body until you have worked with all the major muscles in your body. Perform this activity about twice a day for anxiety relief.
4. Learn mindfulness meditation. Typically, worries are future-focused. When you can learn to focus on the present moment, you can kick worries to the curb. In mindfulness meditation, your focus is directed at acknowledging worries and letting them go.
   • Choose a place where you can sit quietly without distractions. You can close your eyes or focus on a single, non-stimulating spot in the room. Take several deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth.
   • Observe your worries as if you were an impartial spectator of thoughts. DO not judge them or react at all, simply acknowledge each worry as it comes. Recognize that when you do not fight against worries, they eventually go away on their own. Only when you try to control them, do they become resistant.
   • Continue to breathe, slowly and deeply. Notice how your body feels, the sounds around you, and the steady ebb and flow of your breathing. Whenever a worry sticks around without passing, refocus on the present moment (i.e. physical sensations, breathing, etc.).

Getting Control of Worrying

1. Write down and judge your worries. If you are a chronic worrier, you may find that no matter what you do to distract yourself or relax, specific worries come back again and again. Taking action can help you feel less helpless.
   • Get a notebook and pen and write down your worries. After you have listed each one, go through and judge each concern as either productive or unproductive. Productive worries are those you can take action against, such as a broken down car. Unproductive worries are those for which you have no control, such as a major hurricane moving into your area.
   • Handle productive worries by immediately brainstorming solutions to overcome them. For example, if your car is broken down, you may need to call and consult with mechanics, buy a part, or go rent a temporary replacement.
2. Recognize that uncertainties are unavoidable. Unproductive worries are generally those for which there is no obvious or feasible solution. Overcoming such worries requires that you learn to accept uncertainty.
   • The best way to embrace uncertainty is to recognize that not knowing what’s going to happen does not automatically mean something bad will happen. Uncertainty is not negative, it is neutral.
   • For example, you are meeting with a friend with whom you lost touch. You worry that things will be awkward. Consider this: if this person is your friend, odds are, you had similar worldviews and interests. Those things may continue to connect you even though time and/or distance separated you. Things could be awkward, but they could also go fabulously. What’s more, even if they are awkward at first, they could improve as to two of you warm up to each other.
3. Designate a “worry-time”. An effective method to reduce the time you spend worrying about something is to schedule a “worry-time”. Also known as stimulus control training, this technique involves you writing down or pushing away worries to attend to at a later time. This way you have more time to spend on positive and productive thoughts and activities.
   • Decide on a time in the morning or afternoon to attend to your worries. Limit this to a 15 to 30-minute period.
   • During your worry time, either write down or think over all the things that are worrying you right now or at some point during your day. You do not have to problem-solve these worries, but doing so may help you feel more accomplished.
   • Outside of your worry-time, when you notice yourself worrying, push away these concerns by telling yourself you will spend time thinking about them later.
4. Put anxious thoughts to the test. Another way to get control over worrying is to challenge anxious self-talk. The first step to challenging anxious thoughts is identifying them. These are thoughts that frighten you or stimulate a fight-or-flight response. After you become aware of these thoughts, test how realistic they are. The goal is to recognize that these thoughts are usually irrational and unrealistic, thereby, reducing their effect on you. Challenge negative or anxious self-talk by asking yourself these questions:
   • Am I 100% sure that this will happen?
   • Have I mistaken a thought with a fact?
   • What evidence do I have that this is true? What evidence do I have that it is not true?
   • Am I confusing “possibility” with “certainty”? It may be possible, but is it likely?

Warnings

• Don't let your worries get the best of you and keep your emotions bottled inside. Tell someone!

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