Tag: anxiety

Worry, fear, and anxiety

Worrying is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere. ​
Worrying is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.

“Worry won’t get you to where you want to go. Action is the only way…”

To me, the only potential benefit to worrying is that it might help you think of ways that things might go sideways, allowing you to plan your next move ahead of it. But if you just get good at thinking of all the angles ahead of time, putting a contingency plan in place, and then still take action, you’ll be better off.

Where people get in trouble is when they let their worries, fears, and anxiety take over. When they overthink a situation, it’s almost like they’re in quicksand and can’t move. But if they realize that many of their worries will never actually come to fruition, they’ll be better off.

Another way to think about fear is this…what do I really fear about this situation? In a worst case scenario, what is going to happen? Maybe someone will tell you no or you’ll be embarrassed. Well, get used to it. All successful people have been told “no” a lot in their lives. All successful people have had to take a chance (and often fail) to get to where they are.

Worrying is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do (there’s always something we can be worried about), but it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Embracing your fear to make you better and live with less anxiety

Embrace your fear. Everybody fears something. Don’t be ashamed of it and don’t recoil from it. If you fear making mistakes and you don’t embrace it, you will do everything in your power to not make a mistake. Eventually that will lead you to stop taking any chances at all just so you don’t look bad…

But the thing is, it’s all in your head. Most people won’t judge you for making mistake. And if they do, it’s pretty hypocritical. Everyone makes mistakes. The best learn from their mistakes and from the mistakes they’ve observed others make. They not only learn from that isolated incident, but they also can apply their new found knowledge in other areas of life. They figure out where the carryover is and become better predictors for future events. Then they test the hypothesis and keep pushing.

The more you push your limits, the more you grow. But if you don’t want to push your limits and always want to stay within your comfort zone, you might grow slowly, or you might not grow at all. And in a worst-case scenario, you’ll actually end up getting worse.

Embrace your fears. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, to look weak, to look dumb… If you don’t understand something, ask a question. If you think you can lift the weight, but you aren’t sure, try it anyways. Ask for a spotter. People like to help if you let them.

Do you suffer from anxiety?

How many of us are anxious for no reason? I don’t consider myself an anxious person, but after some self reflection on vacation, I realized how neurotic I can be as well. We all have duties and responsibilities, especially as parents, but how much of our anxiety is serving us?

So what if you slept in? So what if your butt gets a little sandy or your shoes get wet? So what if you don’t workout for a day? You don’t always have to be doing something.

I’m always trying to focus on self improvement, but sometimes the best thing you can do is just relax. Don’t stress, don’t worry, don’t let anxiety over something that might happen in the future take over your thoughts and keep you from being present in there now. Life is good. Enjoy it.

Adding slack to your life to reduce stress

You need “slack” or a buffer in your system, your schedule, and your life. If your schedule is too tightly packed, when one event runs past it’s allotted time, it will have a domino effect – causing you extra stress and making other people wait on you. When you’re late for one event, then you’ll probably be late for the one after that, and the next one, and the next one…Plan for everything to take a little longer (giving yourself extra time, aka “slack”) and you will reduce stress/anxiety.

This concept can be applied in all areas of life – even thinking of your budget/emergency savings. Instead of stressing about money when an emergency pops up, you’ll be able to dip into your emergency fund to pay for it. Just be sure to replenish it, as another emergency will inevitably occur at some point in life.