November 13, 2015
Do you remember what it was like to be a kid? To be 3 or 5 years old?
To giggle and make up silly songs and have fun – and not have a care in the world?
I’ve had the pleasure of being on vacation with my amazing girls this week and boy have I been reminded! I’ve watched them do so many fun things – from building sandcastles to playing in the ocean to having a fantastic time doing absolutely nothing š
One thing I haven’t seen my girls do is worry. It sounds silly to even think about a 3 year old worrying; they just don’t.
Why is it then that adults worry so much?
I didn’t realize how much of a problem worrying was until a few years ago when I stumbled upon some startling research on worry. Do you know what it said? The average adult spends a full 2 HOURS A DAY worrying! That’s 14 hours a week!
Pretty wild, huh?
While worry may seem harmless enough, it’s not. In fact, if not kept in check, worry can cause quite a bit of harm. So much so, that I’ve deemed it the second biggest way people trick themselves.
What’s so bad about worrying, you ask?
Along with being a colossal waste of time, chronic worry can cause:
- Anxiety and obsessive thinking – which can lead to panic attacks and other physical issues;
- Bad habits like emotional eating;
- Fatigue and more;
I used to think worry was harmless, but once I found out the real deal, I got to work right away on cutting it back. I learned some simple tricks that I’d love to share with you today.
1. Worry time. Choose a time of day, say 4 pm, and set aside 10 minutes to worry. Commit to only worrying during this time.
2. Worry box. Create a box – a tissue box works well – and, any time you find yourself worried about something for more than 5 minutes, write it down on a slip of paper and place it in the box. There’s something about the act of physically writing it down and turning it over that really works wonders!
3. Let go of what other people think of you. Have you ever paid attention to how much you think other people are judging you? If not, try it out this week. Personally, I was floored when I did this exercise myself. Pretty much anytime I interacted with anyone else – whether someone I knew or a complete stranger – I thought he or she was judging me. You know what I learned? As egocentric beings, most humans only think about one person: themselves! Therefore, worrying about what others think of you is often futile.
If you’d like to save yourself hours a week, cut back on your anxiety and improve your health easily, I invite you to action this week: choose one of the above tools to dramatically decrease your worry.
Have an awesome week and I’ll talk to you next week!