Listen to the Episode Here (09:46)
Today I want to address some big topics of Stress, Anxiety Depression and Worry. When I find myself feeling these emotions I always go to my mentors like Dale Carnegie. He has some amazing advice and thoughts on this topic. But ultimately, its important to remember that even tho they seem overwhelming…Anxiety, worry and depression are Unnecessary, Self-inflicted and Conquerable.
Learn how to stop worrying and start living. To effectively combat worry, it’s important to understand what causes it…
The cause of worry is simple…It’s a result of focusing outside of the present—overthinking the past and harboring anxiety about the future.
Each morning, you’re granted a limited amount of time and energy to focus, get things done, and make the best of your day—there’s only so much you can handle mentally and physically. However, Carnegie explains, worrying about the past and future creates additional burdens that use up your limited time and energy and distract you from focusing on what you need to do today.
Carrying the weight of your worries overwhelms you, creates fatigue, and results in irrational thoughts that make small concerns appear more serious than they are. As a result, it creates unnecessary stress and anxiety.
Causes of worry might be small but the affects on your health over time are big… Over time, even small, daily worries deteriorate your mental and physical health: you may experience symptoms such as depression, anxiety, ulcers, headaches, insomnia, cardiac issues, diabetes, and rashes.
Solution: Focus on One Day at a Time
The most basic way to combat worry is training yourself to shut your mind off completely from the worries of yesterday and tomorrow, instead focusing all your attention and energy on the present moment. This is essential to alleviating stress and anxiety. When you worry about the past and future, those stresses and anxieties get added to your present load—you’ll always be carrying three times the weight you need to. When you’re carrying the weight of excess worry, you’re easily stretched to your mental limits. This causes anxiety and unclear, disorganized thinking.
On the other hand, shutting out worries about the past and future ensures that you’re only carrying one day’s worth of stress at a time, which allows you to keep your thinking clear and logical.
Solution: The most foundational anti-worry tool is thoughtful analysis
Analysis helps neutralize your emotions and breaks worrisome situations down to their basic facts so that you can look at them clearly and calmly. This allows you to make sound decisions and find the best possible solutions.
Strategies for How to Break The Worry Habit Before It Breaks You
Be so busy you don’t have time to worry.
The mind is bad at multitasking. That’s why it’s hard to waste time and energy worrying if you’re too busy thinking or planning or taking action.
Solution: If you find yourself ruminating and worrying, try occupational therapy.
Take a second job. Fill the day with meaningful tasks. Keep your imagination working. Lose yourself in action. Get busy getting busy and you won’t worry about worrying again.
Don’t let problems get you down.
It’s more often small problems than big ones that lead to arguments and irreconcilable differences.
Even though the small ones should be easiest to let go.
The best way to not let small things worry you is to…
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Remind yourself how much worry is wasted on trivialities;
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Compare the problem to a truly serious (e.g., life-threatening) problem; and
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Resolve to be a bigger person than the problem that’s in front of you.
To a size 3 person, a size 4 problem feels insurmountable.
To a size 10 person, a size 4 problem feels negligible.
So be a size 10 person, or at least put your size 4 problems into context.
Don’t stress about problems of little, passing consequences.
And remember, “life is too short to be little”.
Work out how (un)likely things really are.
Many things we all waste time worrying about are really unlikely to happen.
The point here is NOT to start worrying about probabilities.
The point is to realize how unlikely our nightmares really are.
Understand the tiny probabilities of whatever you’re worried about occurring. Find solace in the law of averages.
And in the unlikely event that those probabilities turn out to be meaningful…take action…
Accept what can’t be changed.
There’s no point in fighting the inevitable.
The good news? You can survive and adapt to almost anything.
You’ve already been through so much in life…you can handle this too…
Of course, if there’s still a chance of saving a situation, you should fight for it.
But the moment something’s clearly inescapable: surrender, adapt and make the most of it.
Remember, you are stronger and more resourceful than you think.
So, have faith in your ability to adapt and endure and survive.
Stop worrying about and fighting against change.
Worrying is bad for your mental and physical health. It’s important to find ways to cope with anxiety and stress so that you can live a happier, healthier life. One way to do this is to keep yourself busy so that you don’t have time to worry. Another way is to focus on the present moment and accept what you cannot change. Lastly, remember that you are stronger than you think and that you can handle whatever comes your way.
Thanks for listening…
George Wright III
