6 strategies to overcome anxiety due to excessive worry

Worrying can be helpful when you need to take action and solve a problem. But Excess worry is a problem because it generates doubts and fears that paralyze us.they drain our emotional energy, increase our anxiety levels, and generally interfere with our daily lives.

But Chronic worry is a mental habit that can be overcome training the brain to stay calm and to see life from a more positive perspective.

But why is it so difficult to stop worrying?

The anxious thoughts of people with chronic worry are fueled by their own beliefs. On the one hand, it is possible that the person thinks that this worry is harmful, that they are going to go crazy, that it is going to affect their health, or that they are going to lose control over what worries them. Worry is a vicious cycle that feeds on itself and never stops growing..

Besides, The concerns of these types of people may focus on avoiding bad things. and avoid problems, thus preparing for the worst to have possible solutions planned. Breaking this habit is complicated, since people who worry like this think that their worry protects them.

In any case, to put an end to chronic worry and the anxiety generated by it you have to give up the belief that worry has a positive purpose. Once you discover that worrying is the problem and not the solution, you can regain control of the worried mind.

Strategies to overcome anxiety due to excessive worry

To overcome anxiety caused by excessive worry We can implement a series of strategies that will help us feel better with our problems.

1. Create a worry period

It’s hard to be productive on a daily basis when anxiety and worry dominate our thoughts.. But trying to distract yourself by doing other things to avoid thinking about what is worrying us works only for a few moments, but the worry returns again, perhaps even more strongly.

To try to cope with this excess of worry, You can choose to create a “worry period,” that is, a time and place to worry.. It should be the same every day and with enough advance notice that it won’t cause you anxiety right before bed.

During your worry period you can worry about everything on your mind. AND Leave the rest of the day free of worries. If you still can’t eliminate those thoughts during the day, try postponing worry by writing down what happens to you on paper. This gesture will help you feel that you are not going to forget to worry during the period of worry that is yours.

During the period of worry, take advantage and review your “worry list” and reflect on them. This will help you discover if they are founded or not. Writing about it can help a lot to organize your ideas. Postponing worries is effective because it breaks the habit of focusing on them in the present moment without any struggle to suppress the thought or judge it.

2. Ask yourself if the problem has a solution

While we are worried we feel less anxious for a few moments, because while we are worrying we distract ourselves from our emotions and feel as if we have achieved something. But Worrying and problem solving are two very different things.since worrying does not solve anything.

The important thing then is to distinguish between concerns that have a solution and those that do not. If what worries us has a solution, then let’s think about how to solve it and in the measures we have to adopt to do so. This makes worry productive and brings us closer to a solution that frees us from tension.

But If the problem that worries us cannot be solved, we must learn to not pay attention to it.. “What if” concerns are usually not justified.

AND If it can really be prevented, the concern should be to take action, don’t think about the consequences. For example, if what you are worried about is that one day you will suffer from a serious illness, look for a way to lead a healthy life that will help you prevent it, instead of thinking about how to solve what could happen to you and your loved ones.

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3. Accept uncertainty

Challenging the intolerance of uncertainty is the key to alleviating the anxiety caused by excessive worry. For it You have to reflect and ask yourself if it is possible to be certain about everything in life.about the true usefulness of being certain of everything that is going to happen, or about whether it is really possible to evaluate all the options and find solutions for everything.

4. Challenge anxious thoughts

People with chronic worry see everything much more dangerous than it is,

These irrational pessimistic attitudes are known as cognitive distortions., which are very difficult to give up. But difficult does not mean impossible. With good training it can be achieved.

We must begin by identifying the thought that generates concern in detail. and, instead of treating thoughts as real facts, treat them as hypotheses being tested. By examining and challenging worries and fears you develop a more balanced perspective.

5. Be aware of how others affect us

Emotions are contagious, and those around us affect us much more than we are sometimes aware of. Keeping a worry diary where you write down the thought that creates anxiety and its trigger helps to discover patterns and thus be able to face what causes us worry or increases the worry we already have.

This is hard, but many people, on many occasions without malice, pour their problems on us, or they intensify our fears with their attitude. It may be hard, but it is very effective.

On the other hand, choosing the people we trust with our thoughts is a delicate thing. Look for positive people that help you see things from another perspective and that you do not complicate life by giving them more worries than they already have.

6. Practice mindfulness

The worry is usually focused on the future, on what might happen. Focusing on what is happening in the present helps release excess worries about what will happen to live in the current moment. This strategy is based on observing feelings and then letting them go to identify where the thought is causing problems, while helping to get in touch with one’s own emotions.

To do this, we must recognize and observe thoughts and feelings without trying to control anything, as if we were seeing ourselves from the outside, as if we were observing a stranger. Letting those thoughts go is easier when we look at them from the outside.without resistance.

So you have to stay focused on the present momentpaying attention to how the body feels, to the breathing, to the thoughts that arise so that they are released and the blockage they cause is released.

Using mindfulness meditation to stay focused on the present is a simple concept, but it takes practice to reap the benefits. Although it may be frustrating at first, Little by little, a new mental habit is reinforced that helps to free oneself from the cycle of excessive worries..

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