What, me worry?

Good Day,

I occasionally hear about how worried people are these days - about the economy, the war in Iraq, the presidential race, name your poison I guess. To people who do that much worrying I ask "what does it get you?" I must admit I used to worry about a lot of things myself, especially when I was younger. I was a regular worry-wart, as my mother used to say.

What does it accomplish? What changes when you continuously worry about a certain event? Nothing, nada, zip, zilch, that's what. All it does is add stress to your life, put you in a bad mood, and in the grand scheme of things probably incurs great damage to your health as well. So why do we do it? I guess we're programmed from an early age to worry, most likely passed down from our parents (thanks, mom & dad!). If we pick up something like that when we're young, how hard do you think it is to stop doing as you get older? Yes, it's a habit by now. A habit that is probably pretty hard to break, too. Do you have the classic "stress lines" in your forehead? Yeah, you know what I mean. If you do, it's high time you started taking action to reverse the trend!

I know, "where do I start?" you say...well, next time you catch yourself worrying about something unnecessarily (as opposed to necessarily?) you must do something to break the state that you're in. Ask yourself why your are really worrying about this topic - say the bad economy just to make a point. What's the worst that could happen? Well, yes you could lose your job. If you're an auto worker or some industry that is already cutting back on workers, that could be a legitimate concern. If that's the case, why not take action in advance to try and diffuse that situation? Start looking for other options, either another job, or at least start to network so you are ready for the worst and can find out what the alternatives are. The thing about worry is, you can lessen it to a great extent just by being prepared, and eliminating the unknowns. That's what you're really worried about, right? The unknown situations in life, like how high is gas gonna go? Will I get laid off next month? Taking steps to proactively lessen the pain will automatically take away some of the unknowns, and hopefully make you worry less.

So you are a chronic worryer? Just stop it! Alright, that's easier said than done. All the planning and preparation in the world won't stop some people from worrying constantly. However, next time you catch yourself worrying do something, anything, to break your state of mind and say to yourself something like "this is pointless - worrying is stupid. I'm not going to think about this anymore" - and just move on. Think of something else, occupy your mind with good thoughts, like what's the best thing that might happen? They will discover a new source of energy that is nearly inexhaustible and cheap to replace gas, or that opportunity to start a new business and quit the rat-race is now a reality! Wishful thinking? You bet it is! I engage in it daily, and hardly ever worry. Try it sometime, you may find that breaking the worry habit is the first step in taking some measure of control in your life and happiness...


To your continued happiness and success!

visit my website at: http://getpassionforlife.com