The word worry comes from an old English expression meaning “strangle” which pretty much sums up what it feels like especially when it is excessive.  It is however human nature to participate in this activity of worry at some stage of your life, whether it be daily or on and off on different occasions. Research has identified worry as a misuse of the imagination which can be toxic for your mental health.

Fact

Did you know that persistent worrying creates a domino effect of unnecessary worry? Worry releases a stress hormone which increases sleep and dreaming at night. Over dreaming occurs and unresolved worry can lead to clinical depression. On analysing worry, it is fair to say it is a misuse of imagination.

People imagine all sorts of actions and intentions in their head with no evidence to support their suspicions. Not only does this affect them physically, such as raising blood pressure but also may make them carry out unnecessary behaviour.

HOW DO YOU OVERCOME WORRY?

Below are 4 simple steps you can help yourself or help someone else get out of the trap of excessive worry.

•  Re direct imagination

Being able to realise that our imagined thoughts are just imaginary and not to buy into them. For example thinking ahead of time and imagining something bad is going to happen, let’s say when you are in an aeroplane the worry that it will come crashing down, or an engine will blow. Understand these thoughts and thinking pattern and compare them to that of writers like Stephen King for example. He writes novels with over exaggerate scenarios to make a story terrifying but he himself is not terrified. Why? Because it is an imaginary story! It is about separating yourself from what you are imagining. Same goes for the aeroplane, it’s not going to come crashing down, and it’s just the misuse of your imagination and forward imagining.

So for a chronic worriers, taking deep breathes to relax “here” but allowing the visualisation of the worry “over there” detaches the feeling of being worried. Over time this actually works.

•  Organise the worry

As worrying is intrusive and just appears, do not allow it to take control of your head, but rather you control it. Put it in its place and allocate a “worry time”. Allocate a time slot and say I will only worry during this time. Select a time during the day and allocate no more than 20 minutes. If a worry appears any other time say to yourself “no, I will allocate you to this time of the day during my worry time and not now”.  (You guessed it, it will slowly diminish because you are in control!)

•  Problem solving

Write down your fears or worries and next to them identify the “soluble” or “insoluble”. For example draw a column, left “soluble” and right side “insoluble”

With the “soluble write down practical steps that can fix that problem.

With the “insoluble” write down next to them how you need to accept that you cannot change the situation, for example “ I need to accept X has gone and will not be coming back).

•  Throw away your worries

Writing down emotional issues has been proven to lowers stress hormones. So writing down all the bad memories or thoughts and then placing them in an envelope and then either burning it, putting it through a shredder or tearing it to pieces has said to help to be less concerned about the worries. It is a form of dispose these memories and worries properly.

Try these simple tips and see how you go. Be  patient because changing a behaviour takes time and perseverance.