Dealing With Anxiety
With the fast pace of life and the pressures of society these days, tens of millions of us find ourselves dealing with anxiety on a daily basis. Whether it’s the fledgling economy, job and family stress, or just struggling to keep up, it seems all of us have plenty to worry about.
Here are a couple of tips to help you learn skills for coping with anxiety without leaning on pills for relief.
Tip #1: Can You Control What You’re Worried About?
So many people these days are constantly flipping out over the bad economy. They spend the day checking their shrinking savings accounts and 401k’s over and over again, making themselves sick with worry. But what good does it do to worry about something you can’t control?
None! So try to let go of constantly reminding yourself of such situations. Stop checking to see what the stock market’s doing, or checking the balance in your IRA. If you can’t do anything about it, your time and emotional energy are much better spent elsewhere.
Tip #2: Understand That You Are In Control Of Your Worry
Just because something is lousy and you’re unhappy with it doesn’t mean you HAVE to worry about it. Seriously!
We all have free will to choose to worry or not: it’s a conscious decision. So your car broke down and they can’t fix it for two days. Though you may feel justified in feeling stressed out about your car, is there really anything that will come from worrying about it?
All worrying does is drain you both mentally and physically, and puts you into a terribly negative state of mind. It does nothing to solve your dilemma – especially if it’s something out of your control!
So remember, you have the ability to choose what you worry about. You don’t have to worry about something just because you always have in the past – it’s never too late to retrain your brain to be more positive! It may take some practice and may even feel a little weird at first, but it’s a change that’s well worth making.
Cheers,
Steve
