How To Stop Worrying

Worrying can be helpful in moderation when it alerts us and makes us cautious. At the same time, even the most difficult and dangerous situations in life often require a perfect mix of worry and calmness.

Worrying too much or too often (even for things big and small) can end up being counterproductive. For this reason, controlling worry is important.

Is worry a bad thing?

In some situations, worry is actually a good thing. Sometimes, it’s good to have a moderate amount of worry to keep you alert and cautious.

If, however, you worry too much (i.e. your worry is excessive) or if you worry too often (i.e. you worry too frequently) then worry can become burdensome.

Even if you’re dealing with a situation that is worth worrying about, don’t allow yourself to worry too much. Worry needs to be your sign to take reasonable action but calmness and clear thinking are the better path forward.

Worry is a bad thing when it harms instead of helps you. You need to leverage worry to your advantage while keeping it under control.

Ways to stop worrying

There are some techniques that can help you decrease worry and even stop it altogether. These strategies help you focus your worry for your own betterment.

Here are some techniques to help you stop worrying.

1. Realize worry rarely solves problems

How many times have you worried before? How often has this worry actually helped solve a problem?

Worry seldom (if ever) actually solves a problem. If anything, it often makes it worse.

Understanding that your worry could end up counterproductive can help with overcoming it.

Worry is an emotion usually rooted in a fear or anxiety. The problem is worry itself probably won’t help you deal with the source of fear, nor is it more likely to lead you to a better outcome.

Once you understand how worry can actually be harmful, you can start realizing that there is no need for you to stay in a state of worry.

Constantly remind yourself of this to help keep your emotions under control. If you notice that you are worrying, ask yourself “can worry help me overcome this situation or is it just making me more flustered?”

If you genuinely think worry would help you then by all means keep worrying. But the most likely answer is it’s just making you flustered with little benefit.

2. Ask yourself if your worry is logical (a lot of times, it’s not)

When you worry, do you worry about something logical? Is it something that is truly worth worrying about?

Be candid with yourself about how reasonable your fears are. A lot of times, worry is not grounded in a logical fear but instead an irrational one.

Take anything you’re worried about and ask yourself what the chances of it actually happening are. Even if there was a fair possibility it would happen, isn’t there also a possibility that something good will happen?

It works both ways. There’s a chance things go one way and there’s a chance things go another way. Your chances of experiencing all the things you worry about may actually be very small.

If you are worried about things that are highly unlikely, then there’s no point in worrying. The list of unlikely bad things that can happen is simply too long for you to overthink them.

Don’t be negligent – you should still watch out for yourself and be cautious. Just don’t let caution turn into paranoia.

3. Use acceptance

If you worry, it may be because you are seeking too much control in your life. You might be subconsciously (or consciously) seeking the power to dictate outcomes. Often, this is because you don’t accept things for what they are and you wish to change them in your favor.

While it’s nice to have control and be able to know where you’re headed, control is also something that is not always guaranteed. Some of life’s situations may very well be outside of your control.

Accept this reality. Don’t try to change things all the time.

This doesn’t mean you should just sit back and let life happen to you. No! But in some situations you just need to let things be as they are.

Taking an “it is what it is” approach can help with becoming more dismissive about anxieties and worries.

Something great might happen. But part of living is accepting that something bad may happen also. Be okay with that to make your worries more powerless.

4. Control your worry

So this may come off as a little oversimplified, but if you don’t want to worry, just don’t. Take control of your worry. You own your emotions and you need to take control of them.

You don’t have to resist the worry, just don’t let it overtake you. Do not allow yourself to worry.

It might seem simple but this can work very effectively.

This technique can help you rewire your mentality to be less worrisome. Being able to find mental paths to calmness despite the inclination to worry becomes somewhat of a developed skill.

Control your worry, don’t let it control you.

5. Plan effectively

Sometimes, you may be able to foresee what will happen to you. It might not always be the case; after all, some of life’s troubles can get people by surprise. But for many of these troubles, they can be seen coming.

Just because they’re predictable doesn’t mean they’ll happen. But seeing risk and knowing there’s a chance that the unfavorable scenario plays out is really an indicator of good forward thinking skills.

The problem is, some of these scenarios can cause worry. A good way to counter your concrete fears is by planning for them.

Why are you worried? What scenario has played out in your mind to lead you to believe there is a reason to be afraid?

Once you answer those questions, ask yourself what you can do to prevent, mitigate or prepare for disaster in your situation. There may be certain limitations on what you can or should do. Remember, your solutions should be reasonable else they end up causing more harm than good to you.

6. Journal

Put your thoughts, fears, anxieties and whatever else may be underlying your worries into a journal. You can type it out or physically write it with a pen and paper. Regardless, leverage journaling as a way to release your inner tension.

Put worries into perspective by writing them out. Sometimes, the act of writing alone can help you gain new insights into sources of worries.

Getting a new outlook on them can help alleviate their intensity. It’s easier to stop worrying about something if you deeply understand it and its components.

Journaling is also a way to vent your emotions privately. Envision your emotions leaving you as you write them.

7. Build strength

Worrying is not weak! It’s important that we start with that. Now, worry is not weak but strength can help combat worry.

Strength is a tool that can make worry powerless. Having the mental strength to be able to tolerate life’s challenges can help change the game in your favor when you find yourself facing worry.

Strengthen yourself emotionally and be more resilient to difficulty. Learn to take a more positive approach to challenges in life and embrace them.

Try to voluntarily take on some safe challenges like reading, knitting (which can test patience), learning a new skill and the like. These can help build your patience and your tolerance to challenges.

Use visualization and practice to strengthen your character. Build the faculties to stand strong no matter what happens in life.