How to stop worrying

photo by Kane Reinholdtsen

Gemma Gosden

9 June 2017

Worrying and Anxiety can have a huge impact on a persons’ life.

It seems like we are only just beginning to scratch the surface in knowing what it means to be mentally or emotionally unwell and what kind of effect this can have on our physical selves.

How to stop worrying and start living

The following blog post has come as a result of my reading Dale Carnegie’s “How to stop worrying and start living”.

Incredibly this book was first printed in 1953, 64 years ago. The information I’m about to share I feel is just as useful now as it was back then.

This post is not meant to be used as any kind of official medical information however. I am certainly not a medical professional and I’m sure Dale wrote the book to highlight to people how he made himself a happier person.

How to stop worrying according to Dale Carnegie

Analyse the problem
Break the habit
Adjust your mental attitude

This is a very summarised version of the book and I have taken the sections that I felt were relevant so if you would like to read the whole thing then check out this affiliate link for the book:

1. Analyse the problem

Get the facts

Don’t waste time worrying about something you haven’t got all the info on yet.

There is no point in making assumptions.

Get the info you need first to figure out what the problem is in the first place and if it’s actually worth worrying about.

Analyse the facts

Once you have all the info you think you need go over it all and work out what you need to do so either solve the problem or reduce the impact on yourself and your emotional wellbeing.

Make a decision on how to move forward

Decide how to act and follow it through. Don’t go changing your mind every 5 minutes, you’ll just make it worse.

2. Break the Habit

To stop yourself from constant worry, sometimes the simple solutions can be the most effective.

Work your way through the following to see if any of them work:

Keep yourself busy doing other things. Keep your mind focused on something else
Ask yourself what the chances are of your worry actually happening
Ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen if it does happen
If this thing is something out of your control try to work with it instead of fighting against it
Try to think about how much anxiety your worry is worth and stop yourself from giving it anymore than its worth. You deserve better after all!
Don’t worry about things that have already happened. You know the outcome already

3. Adjust your attitude

This sounds straight forward but takes some practice before it’s on auto pilot.

It’s so easy for us to think in a negative way that thinking positively takes some work.

Try to adopt a positive mental attitude (pma)

Live for today not what may happen tomorrow

Don’t hold grudges

They only bring you down

Be grateful for what you have

Or for what is going right in your life right now

Count your blessings

Remember there are people worse off than you out there

Be yourself

Trying to be someone you’re not is exhausting

Find the positives in set backs and failures

Learn from your mistakes

Forget yourself by helping / being interested in others

Try not to get lost in yourself. If you’re having trouble making yourself happy try and help others to be happy.

For a quick fire version of this post check out our downloadable infographic.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to thinking about our mental health.

For more info contact your GP or check out https://www.mind.org.uk

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How to stop worrying