How to Stop Unnecessary Worry

Wear an elastic band around your wrist. Each time you start to worry, immediately pull and release the elastic band. The negative reinforcement should be painful enough for you to stop worrying if you use this technique several times or more.

Go to your breath. Switch your attention to your breathing immediately when you start to worry. Follow it. It goes it; it goes out. Keep following it. Pretty soon your worry will have dissipated.

Jot it down. Write it down somewhere and schedule time perhaps at the end of the day when you will deal with the worry. Often, the worry has dissipated by then and there is no need to worry.

Discuss with a friend. Talk to a friend about your problem. Your friend may be able to offer solutions, or you may come up with a solution yourself just by talking to your friend. Alternately, talk to your friend about something else, or help them with their problem. By the time you have helped them with their problem, you may be so happy and feel such a sense of accomplishment that your worry has dissipated. Otherwise, their problem may be much worse than yours and you now see your problem in perspective and feel much better afterwards.

See a professional psychologist or registered counsellor. These professionals are qualified to help you with your worrying problem. You may want to discuss with them first how many sessions they think that you will need to see them.

Exercise. Vigorous exercise often soothes your mind and calms your entire body. Worry is often simply due to an agitated and nervous individual. Therefore, if you have extrinsically calmed down your nerves, the worry often goes away.

Laugh. Find a way to make yourself laugh. Perhaps talk to a friend, perhaps watch or read something funny. The hormones you release will make you feel better and less anxious, and you may not feel so worried afterwards.

Let yourself worry a little bit. A certain amount of worry is good. We need those worry cues in life so that we take constructive action and problem solve (see Getting Help and Finding Information, How to Use Search Engines to Find Information on the Internet, and How to Solve Problems). However, excessive worry will consume you and your health.

There is no need to use every single one of these techniques if simply one of them works for you. Choose one, try it. If it works and it stops your worry, that's it! You don't need to keep trying the others because your worry has stopped. Often, when people are worried, they start panicking and start thinking about which technique they need to use. Study this list, and use the one that most naturally pops up to you. It will heal you.

In summary, to stop worrying the worrying that will destroy your life,

A. Wear an elastic band around your wrist.

B. Go to your breath.

C. Jot it down.

D. Discuss with a friend.

E. See a professional psychologist or registered counsellor.

F. Exercise.

G. Laugh.

H. Let yourself worry a little bit.

Life Skills > Healthy Lifestyle Skills > How to Stop Worrying