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Happiness or worry the choice is yours, but keep in mind the pitfalls that worry brings with it.
By Ellen Nyland — Written on Jul 15, 2020
"Don't worry; be happy" is a conscious choice only you can make.
You may be concerned once in a while about something but that is just part of life. It becomes a real issue if you can't stop worrying about your problems or (even worse) if your troubles keep you up at night. Worry can become this all-consuming monster that leaves little room for sunshine and possibilities.
What is even scarier is that worry transforms you from a wonderful being into a fearful about everything version of yourself. Some of the ways worry does that are:
Worry clutters our thoughts.
It takes the clarity out of our thinking and it makes us lose focus.
Worry transfers positive thoughts into negative thoughts.
Top many negative thoughts create anxiety. Anxiety consumes your mind to a point you can't think clearly and it alternate your perspective of life.
Worry is a bad advisor.
Don't trust your mind when you are in the apprehension mode because you can't be clear and focused when you are anxious. Therefore, don't make life-changing decisions when you are in this mindset.
Worry holds you hostage and stuck in one place.
Your brain goes in circles and doesn't find an opening to get out of that frame of mind. It holds you back from moving forward in life.
If you catch yourself worrying too much and want to change that, then these 4 tips are what you need when you want to know how to stop worrying so you can find happiness.
1. Start self-care.
Make time for some "you" time. Take the pressure off of thinking or believing that you have to be a superwoman or superman. You work way better, faster, and more efficiently with a de-cluttered brain.
So spend some time a day on meditation, walks in nature, yoga, or other activities that relax you.
2. Focus on the things you have control over.
Every day, you are bombarded by information you don't have any control over (for example, politics and advertisement ads). But that information has a huge influence on your life (politics on your healthcare and education and advertisements on the products you buy).
By minimizing your exposure to the outlets that inform you about things you have no control over, you will discover the areas in your life you are in control of. By taking control of the things you can change, you will find your anxiety level will go down.
3. Find gratitude.
Open your eyes and perspectives and find moments, people, situations, things, or circumstances you can be grateful for. Gratitude is the gateway to happiness. It steers you to inner peace, so find 3 things a day you can be grateful for. This exercise alone can change your life.
4. Create a mind-map.
If you need something concrete to work with, do a mind-map. Take a big piece of paper, write your worry or problem in the middle and circle it. Any thoughts you have around that problem, write it down, and connect the thought and the worry with a line.
After a while, you'll see that your paper looks like a spider with a pattern forming. This brings clarity to your thoughts and can give you the answer to your problem.
Just hearing the words "you are worrying too much" may sound innocent, but they have a huge impact on your life. So take control of your life and make the choice of dealing with your problems as soon as you can so that you don't have to spend energy on worrying and losing sleep.
You are so worth it. Let your inner beauty come out and make the world your playground.
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Ellen Nyland is a Certified Life Coach and author of the book "Life is Great Even When it Sucks." If you want more information on being in control of your life and want to come out and play, contact Ellen, and together, you'll be transformed from worrier to warrior.