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Worry
noun:
– a state or source of anxiety or uncertainty over actual or potential problems
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Do you worry too much? Is worrying making a negative impact on your life?
If yes, well, I know how you feel. I’ve been the King of Worriers once, obsessing over the what-ifs of life. What if I lose my job? What if I get sick? What if nobody helps me? What if I lose my wallet? What if I forget to lock the door to my house? What if I don’t please the people around me? Yadda yadda yadda… I’ve worried to the point that I’ve been frozen in fear of living. I was literally afraid to live. But you know what I’ve discovered? Worries can be overcome.
I’ve turned myself around 180 degrees and now I live my life free of worries. It hasn’t been easy, especially at first, but every beginning has its birth pains. With enough belief in myself and with God’s help, I did it. And you can, too!
So how does one overcome worry? Here are some rules I’ve come to practice:
* Combat worry with optimism. Every time worry enters your mind, try to ignore your negative thoughts and instead focus on the positive. For example, when the fear that I’ll lose my job suddenly comes to mind, I tell myself that I have a Master’s Degree, that if I ever lose my job there will be a lot of other jobs out there that are a good fit for me, that losing my job doesn’t mean the end of the world. Who knows, it can even be an opportunity to work for a better company or to get a better salary?
* Don’t sweat about the uncertainty of the future. The future is uncertain. Heck, life is uncertain. Why should you waste your energy worrying about something that is ultimately beyond your control?
Although I plan for my future, I try to spend most of my focus on the now because I have more control of the present and because all the little things I do right now will eventually contribute to my goals for the future.
* Accept that you make mistakes. When you worry about committing mistakes, it makes you hold back or back away entirely and you turn away from the excitement of life. It’s like a man who is worried about looking foolish while dancing. Instead of swaying freely to the music, he moves stiffly or, worse, he chooses not to dance at all. As a result, he misses out on the wonderful experience of dancing with his friends or his loved ones.
Accept that you are not the best dancer and dance anyway!
* Believe in yourself. Sometimes, we don’t need miracles. Many worries can be overcome by simply having faith in one’s own abilities.
Worried about the upcoming job performance review? You shouldn’t. You know you’ve given it your best.
* Let go of past failures. Worry sometimes stems from bad experiences and the only way to get over it is to learn from it and move on. In the famous song of Frozen’s Elsa, “Let it go! Let it go!”
* Know that good things happen. If you examine your thoughts, you’ll notice that most of your worries do not happen. Instead, good things do. Keep this in mind and you’ll surely worry less.
* Know that God is looking out for you.
Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
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Face life with joy, gladness and excitement. This life is just temporary, too short to waste on worrying. Smile! God loves you! He created you not to suffer but to have an abundant life.
Change the way you think and live a better life… Be Happy!
