How to Stop Worrying Excessively About Family Members

anxiety

How to Stop Worrying

Are you lot plagued by abiding worries and anxious thoughts? These tips tin help at-home your worried listen and ease feet.

How much worrying is too much?

Worries, doubts, and anxieties are a normal function of life. It'due south natural to worry nearly an unpaid beak, an upcoming job interview, or a showtime date. But "normal" worry becomes excessive when it'southward persistent and uncontrollable. Y'all worry every day about "what ifs" and worst-case scenarios, you can't get anxious thoughts out of your head, and information technology interferes with your daily life.

Constant worrying, negative thinking, and always expecting the worst can have a toll on your emotional and physical health. It tin can sap your emotional forcefulness, go out you feeling restless and jumpy, cause insomnia, headaches, tum bug, and muscle tension, and make it difficult to concentrate at work or school. You may take your negative feelings out on the people closest to you, self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, or try to distract yourself by zoning out in forepart of screens. Chronic worrying tin can also be a major symptom of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), a common anxiety disorder that involves tension, nervousness, and a general feeling of unease that colors your whole life.

If you're plagued by exaggerated worry and tension, there are steps you can take to plough off anxious thoughts. Chronic worrying is a mental habit that tin can exist cleaved. Y'all can train your brain to stay at-home and look at life from a more than balanced, less fearful perspective.

Why is it so hard to stop worrying?

Constant worrying can accept a heavy toll. It tin can continue you up at night and make you tense and edgy during the twenty-four hour period. And fifty-fifty though you hate feeling similar a nervous wreck, it tin still be and then difficult to cease. For most chronic worriers, the anxious thoughts are fueled past the beliefs—both negative and positive—that you agree near worrying:

Negative beliefs about worry. Y'all may believe that your constant worrying is harmful, that it'south going to drive you crazy or affect your concrete wellness. Or you may worry that you're going to lose all control over your worrying—that it will take over and never stop. While negative beliefs, or worrying about worrying, adds to your anxiety and keeps worry going, positive beliefs nigh worrying can be merely as damaging.

Positive beliefs nigh worry. You may believe that your worrying helps you avoid bad things, prevents issues, prepares you lot for the worst, or leads to solutions. Maybe you tell yourself that if you proceed worrying well-nigh a problem long enough, you'll eventually be able to figure it out? Or perhaps y'all're convinced that worrying is a responsible thing to exercise or the only way to ensure yous don't overlook something? It'southward tough to pause the worry addiction if you believe that your worrying serves a positive purpose. Once you realize that worrying is the problem, not the solution, you tin can regain control of your worried mind.

How to stop worrying tip i: Create a daily "worry" flow

It's tough to be productive in your daily activities when anxiety and worry are dominating your thoughts and distracting you from work, school, or your home life. This is where the strategy of postponing worrying tin aid. Rather than trying to terminate or get rid of an anxious thought, give yourself permission to accept it, but put off dwelling on it until afterward.

1. Create a "worry period." Cull a set time and place for worrying. Information technology should be the same every day (eastward.thou. in the living room from 5:00 to 5:20 p.m.) and early enough that it won't make you anxious correct before bedtime. During your worry period, yous're allowed to worry most whatever's on your listen. The rest of the day, however, is a worry-complimentary zone.
2. Write downwardly your worries. If an anxious thought or worry comes into your head during the day, make a brief annotation of it and and so continue almost your twenty-four hours. Remind yourself that you'll have time to think about it after, so there's no need to worry about information technology right now. Also, writing down your thoughts—on a pad or on your phone or estimator—is much harder work than simply thinking them, so your worries are more likely to lose their power.
3. Go over your "worry list" during the worry period. If the thoughts you wrote downward are nevertheless bothering yous, allow yourself to worry virtually them, but only for the amount of time you've specified for your worry period. As you examine your worries in this manner, you'll often find information technology easier to develop a more counterbalanced perspective. And if your worries don't seem important any more, simply cut your worry menses brusque and enjoy the residual of your day.

Tip 2: Challenge anxious thoughts

If you lot endure from chronic anxiety and worry, chances are you expect at the world in ways that brand information technology seem more threatening than information technology really is. For instance, you lot may overestimate the possibility that things volition turn out desperately, jump immediately to worst-instance scenarios, or treat every anxious idea equally if it were fact. You may also discredit your own power to handle life's problems, bold y'all'll fall autonomously at the first sign of trouble. These types of thoughts, known every bit cognitive distortions, include:

All-or-nothing thinking, looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground. "If everything is not perfect, I'm a total failure."

Overgeneralization from a single negative feel, expecting it to hold truthful forever. "I didn't get hired for the job. I'll never go whatsoever job."

Focusing on the negatives while filtering out the positives. Noticing the ane thing that went incorrect, rather than all the things that went right. "I got the last question on the examination wrong. I'm an idiot."

Coming up with reasons why positive events don't count. "I did well on the presentation, merely that was simply dumb luck."

Making negative interpretations without bodily show. You human activity like a mind reader: "I can tell she secretly hates me." Or a fortune teller: "I just know something terrible is going to happen."

Expecting the worst-instance scenario to happen. "The pilot said we're in for some turbulence. The plane'southward going to crash!"

Believing that the way you lot feel reflects reality. "I feel like such a fool. Everyone must be laughing at me."

Holding yourself to a strict list of what you lot should and shouldn't practise and beating yourself upwardly if you break any of the rules. "I should never have tried starting a chat with her. I'm such a moron."

Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings. "I'm a failure; I'yard boring; I deserve to exist lonely."

Bold responsibility for things that are exterior your command. "It'due south my fault my son got in an blow. I should have warned him to drive carefully in the rain."

How to challenge these thoughts

During your worry menstruation, challenge your negative thoughts by asking yourself:

• What's the evidence that the thought is truthful? That information technology's not true?
• Is there a more positive, realistic way of looking at the situation?
• What'southward the probability that what I'chiliad scared of will actually happen? If the probability is low, what are some more likely outcomes?
• Is the idea helpful? How will worrying about it help me and how will information technology injure me?
• What would I say to a friend who had this worry?

Tip three: Distinguish between solvable and unsolvable worries

Research shows that while you're worrying, you temporarily feel less broken-hearted. Running over the problem in your head distracts yous from your emotions and makes you feel like you're getting something accomplished. But worrying and problem solving are 2 very different things.

Problem solving involves evaluating a state of affairs, coming up with concrete steps for dealing with information technology, and and then putting the plan into action. Worrying, on the other hand, rarely leads to solutions. No matter how much fourth dimension you spend home on worst-case scenarios, you're no more prepared to deal with them should they actually happen.

Is your worry solvable?

Productive, solvable worries are those you tin can take action on correct away. For instance, if you're worried nigh your bills, you could call your creditors to see about flexible payment options. Unproductive, unsolvable worries are those for which there is no corresponding action. "What if I get cancer someday?" or "What if my child gets into an accident?"

If the worry is solvable, start brainstorming. Brand a list of all the possible solutions you tin think of. Try not to go likewise hung up on finding the perfect solution. Focus on the things you lot accept the ability to change, rather than the circumstances or realities beyond your control. After yous've evaluated your options, make a plan of activity. Once you have a program and showtime doing something well-nigh the problem, you'll feel much less anxious.

If the worry is not solvable, accept the dubiousness. If you lot're a chronic worrier, the vast majority of your anxious thoughts probably fall in this campsite. Worrying is oftentimes a way we try to predict what the time to come has in store-a way to prevent unpleasant surprises and control the event. The problem is, it doesn't piece of work. Thinking about all the things that could go wrong doesn't make life whatsoever more anticipated. Focusing on worst-case scenarios will only go on you from enjoying the good things y'all take in the present. To terminate worrying, tackle your need for certainty and immediate answers.

• Do you tend to predict bad things volition happen but because they are uncertain? What is the likelihood they volition?
• Given the likelihood is very depression, is it possible to alive with the small take chances that something negative may happen.
• Ask your friends and family how they cope with uncertainty in specific situations. Could you practice the aforementioned?
• Tune into your emotions. Worrying about uncertainty is often a way to avert unpleasant emotions. But by tuning into your emotions you tin start to accept your feelings, fifty-fifty those that are uncomfortable or don't make sense.

Tip iv: Interrupt the worry cycle

If yous worry excessively, it can seem like negative thoughts are running through your head on countless repeat. Y'all may feel like you're spiraling out of control, going crazy, or about to burn out under the weight of all this feet. But there are steps you can take right now to interrupt all those anxious thoughts and give yourself a time out from relentless worrying.

Get upwardly and become moving. Exercise is a natural and effective anti-feet treatment because it releases endorphins which save tension and stress, boost energy, and raise your sense of well-beingness. Even more than importantly, by really focusing on how your body feels as you lot move, y'all tin can interrupt the constant flow of worries running through your head. Pay attention to the sensation of your feet hit the basis as y'all walk, run, or dance, for example, or the rhythm of your breathing, or the feeling of the sun or air current on your skin.

Have a yoga or tai chi class. By focusing your heed on your movements and breathing, practicing yoga or tai chi keeps your attention on the present, helping to articulate your mind and atomic number 82 to a relaxed state.

Meditate. Meditation works by switching your focus from worrying nearly the future or dwelling on the past to what's happening correct now. By being fully engaged in the present moment, you can interrupt the countless loop of negative thoughts and worries. And yous don't need to sit cross-legged, light candles or incense, or chant. Simply notice a quiet, comfy place and choose one of the many complimentary or cheap smartphone apps that can guide you through the meditation process.

Do progressive muscle relaxation. This can help you lot interruption the countless loop of worrying past focusing your mind on your body instead of your thoughts. By alternately tensing and and then releasing different muscle groups in your torso, y'all release muscle tension in your trunk. And as your body relaxes, your mind volition follow.

Try deep breathing. When you worry, y'all become anxious and breathe faster, often leading to further anxiety. But by practicing deep breathing exercises, y'all tin calm your mind and serenity negative thoughts.

Relaxation techniques can change the encephalon

While the above relaxation techniques can provide some immediate respite from worry and anxiety, practicing them regularly tin can likewise change your brain. Research has shown that regular meditation, for case, can boost activity on the left side of the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for feelings of serenity and joy. The more than y'all practice, the greater the anxiety relief you lot'll experience and the more than control you'll start to feel over your broken-hearted thoughts and worries.

Tip 5: Talk about your worries

It may seem similar a simplistic solution, just talking face to face with a trusted friend or family unit fellow member—someone who volition mind to you lot without judging, criticizing, or continually beingness distracted—is one of the near effective ways to calm your nervous system and lengthened anxiety. When your worries get-go spiraling, talking them over tin make them seem far less threatening.

Keeping worries to yourself only causes them to build upwards until they seem overwhelming. Simply saying them out loud tin often assist you lot to make sense of what you're feeling and put things in perspective. If your fears are unwarranted, verbalizing them tin expose them for what they are—needless worries. And if your fears are justified, sharing them with someone else can produce solutions that you lot may not have idea of alone.

Build a strong back up system. Man beings are social creatures. We're not meant to alive in isolation. But a strong support arrangement doesn't necessarily mean a vast network of friends. Don't underestimate the benefit of a few people you can trust and count on to be there for you. And if you don't feel that y'all have anyone to confide in, it'southward never too late to build new friendships.

Know who to avoid when you're feeling anxious. Your anxious take on life may be something y'all learned when you were growing up. If your mother is a chronic worrier, she is non the best person to telephone call when you lot're feeling broken-hearted—no thing how close you are. When because who to turn to, ask yourself whether y'all tend to experience improve or worse after talking to that person near a problem.

Tip 6: Practise mindfulness

Worrying is normally focused on the future—on what might happen and what you'll do about it—or on the past, rehashing the things you've said or washed. The centuries-old practice of mindfulness tin can help you break free of your worries by bringing your attention back to the nowadays. This strategy is based on observing your worries and so letting them go, helping you identify where your thinking is causing bug and getting in touch with your emotions.

Admit and observe your worries. Don't try to ignore, fight, or control them like you usually would. Instead, simply observe them equally if from an outsider's perspective, without reacting or judging.

Let your worries go. Find that when you lot don't try to control the anxious thoughts that pop up, they soon pass, like clouds moving across the sky. It'south only when you engage your worries that yous get stuck.

Stay focused on the present. Pay attention to the way your body feels, the rhythm of your breathing, your always-changing emotions, and the thoughts that drift across your mind. If you find yourself getting stuck on a particular thought, bring your attention back to the nowadays moment.

Repeat daily. Using mindfulness to stay focused on the nowadays is a unproblematic concept, merely information technology takes time and regular practice to reap the benefits. At first, you'll probably observe that your mind keeps wandering back to your worries. Endeavour not to become frustrated. Each fourth dimension you lot draw your focus back to the present, you're reinforcing a new mental habit that will assist yous break gratis of the negative worry bike.

Basic mindfulness meditation

• Detect a quiet place
• Sit down on a comfortable chair or cushion, with your back direct, and your hands resting on the tops of your upper legs.
• Shut your optics and breathe in through your nose, assuasive the air downward into your lower belly. Let your belly expand fully.
• Breathe out through your mouth.
• Focus on an aspect of your breathing, such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your rima oris, or your abdomen rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
• If your mind starts to wander, return your focus to your breathing with no judgment.
• Try to meditate iii or 4 times per week for 10 minutes per twenty-four hours. Every infinitesimal counts.

Click hither for a free mindful breathing meditation.

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Source: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/how-to-stop-worrying.htm