Ways to Manage “WORRY”

Worry is a form of thinking, which is stressful, repetitive and non-productive. When we are worrying, we are thinking about something over and over again but do not resolve the situation or arrive at the solution of the problem.

At times, worry can be beneficial, such as when it encourages us to take action to change a situation. When worry helps us plan for an upcoming event by imagining various scenarios that might come about, it can be helpful.

Worry becomes a problem, however when it leads to continual anxiety,or fear or when it consists of continually repeating the same thinking pattern over and over. Worry can have negative effects on mind and body. It may cause physical conditions of stomach upset, muscle tension and headaches. It may be more difficult to focus on other things while worrying.

Here are some ways to manage 'worry':

• Stress is a big contributor to worrying. It not only provides with things to worry about, but stress makes you think negatively, focus on bad things happening, and when you start to worry, stress makes it more difficult for you to stop. And Stress is inevitable in present times, so try to lift your mood using various techniques of meditation, Yoga, physical exercises.
  
• No one is perfect. Try to reduce perfectionistic tendencies. Because if you look for perfect solutions for a problem, which is not always possible, then such thinking only become s the cause of worry. Be as practical as you can.
  
• Lack of faith in ourselves,that is in our abilities to handle problems of life, will make us catastrophize our problems and make them impossibility. Develop self- confidence, and stop worrying.
  
• Worrying will not solve the problem. Divert such worry thinking to useful problem solving by considering what you need to do now to deal with the problem.
  
• Uncertainity is the fact of life. Try to accept it and live with it. This will make you to tolerate the uncertainity. You are not responsible for everything bad that happens to you and your family members. Stop blaming yourselves for all bad things and also stop asking 'Why Me', start thinking 'How to cope with it'
  
• Don’t try to suppress unwanted worries: When you do start to worry – don’t try and fight or control those thoughts. It is helpful to notice them rather than try to suppress them, because actively trying to suppress thoughts simply makes them bounce back even more! So acknowledge those worrisome thoughts but then move on to doing something more useful.
• Change “What if…?” worries to “How can I…?” worries: To be able to manage your worries, you need to understand exactly what they are. Try keeping a worry diary for a week or so. Write down each worry when it occurs – just a sentence to describe it will do. Then later, try and see how many of your worries are “What if…?” type questions. You can try to turn these worries into “How can I…? worries, which is more likely to lead you on to practical solutions (e.g. you could turn a “What if I forget what to say in my interview?” worry into “How can I prepare myself to remember what I need to say in my interview”).
• Very often your worries cause sleep distrubances. You may find yourself running through every possible problem that could arise and trying to think up solutions. All this will do is keep you awake longer, and you’ll end up feeling tired (and probably anxious) the next day. One solution to worries that keep you awake at night is to keep a pen and paper next to the bed. When you wake up worrying, simply write a list of things you need to do tomorrow (including dealing with the worry). You’ll probably find that once the worry has been transferred to that piece of paper, there is now no longer any need to keep it in your head as well. It can be dealt with tomorrow.
• Stay in the moment: Spending most of your time worrying about things that might happen in the future means that you’ll spend less time enjoying the present and staying in the moment. Acknowledge the worries that enter your head, but don’t engage them, try to refocus on what you are doing in that moment – watching a TV program, reading a good book, playing with your children.