How To Stop Worrying in 3 Simple Steps

What is worrying?

Worrying is undesirable thoughts about the future. Things that you don’t want to happen but might happen.

‍You are frozen. You feel stressed. You feel anxious. Your breathing might change. You may feel tense. You feel uncomfortable.

Worrying has serious health consequences.

‍An article published in the National Library of Medicine titled, The Effects of Worry in Daily Life stated that worry and prolonged thought are processes that have been linked to negative health effects that include coronary heart disease, heightened cortisol response, lowered immune reaction, and sleep problems.

Consequences of worrying include:

• ‍Mental health: Worrying can lead to or worsen mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and personality disorders. 
• ‍Cardiovascular system: Worrying can increase your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. 
• ‍Digestive system: Worrying can cause heartburn, acid reflux, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, and stomachaches. 
• ‍Muscular system: Worrying can cause headaches, back and shoulder pain, and body aches. 
• ‍Immune system: Worrying can weaken your immune system and reduce your body's response to foreign invaders. 
• ‍Reproductive system: Worrying can affect menstruation cycles, cause irregular, heavier, or more painful periods, and increase the physical symptoms of menopause. 
• ‍Skin and hair: Worrying can cause acne, psoriasis, eczema, and permanent hair loss. 
• ‍Sleep: Worrying can cause sleep problems. 
• ‍Weight: Worrying can lead to weight gain or loss. 

Worrying affects people around us, our productivity, and our outcomes.

We don’t have the capacity to be a positive influence to the people we care about when we’re worrying.

We’re not able to set a good example or be a good leader when we are stuck in the future with thoughts about things that we don’t want to happen.

When we have negative expectations, we can manifest our thoughts to reality. Thinking about what we don’t want to happen can lead to those things happening. When we are frozen in thoughts about the future, we are not taking action toward what we want.

The 3 Steps to Stop Worrying Originally from Dale Carnegie in his book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living in 1944.

1. Determine the worst-case scenario.

• Think to yourself about what the worst possible outcome could be.

2. Resolve to accept the worst-case scenario.

• ‍‍Accept the fact that if the worst case happens, you will survive. That you will make it through it, and it won’t be the end of the world.

3. Do everything in your power to not let the worst-case scenario happen.

• ‍ Take action to prevent the worst case from happening.

Learning how to recognize excessive worrying and implementing these 3 steps, we will likely result in more peace of mind and less of the side effects that worrying has our mental and physical health.