- Why do we worry?
There are many differing reasons for why one might worry. But the most prevalent reason would be social acceptance. That is only proved by the fact that most people hate public speaking. We worry the most about our social standing, and our survival. Those are our biggest concerns. What is worry really? Is it a strategy to diverge yourself from the possible outcome? Is it a strategy to convince us, rather not to take action, about something that will potentially mean our death? Can we say it is a thought process, a process of imagination of the future, and expectancy? What if we leave out evolution and imagine our day to day lives? In those terms worry is actually a very uncomfortable thing that we have to deal with. We want to stop worrying because of the day to day problems. But you need to understand there is no better way to stop worrying than through time and experience. Nevertheless there are ways to, at least to think better about it, and encourage those beliefs which you know are more beneficial for you.
Interestingly, our worry is quite biased, we worry only about that with which the worry helped us survive in the past. We don´t worry about the ambiguous possibility of the disappearance of the universe unexpectedly. Worry is the result of the molding by the circumstance, and it is our predictive ability which helped us survive in the past, and is still helping us to do so.
- Types of worry:
There is personal worry, which is specifically catered to us, and general things people worry about which is most precisely the fear of death or of social embarrassment. The personal worry can relate to the general worry, through past individual experiences specific to us, which linked a certain event, (that we are now afraid of) to the general worry. Of socal degradation and starvation.
There are also different situations in which you might worry: Such as, when you spend a long time at home, you tend to be more worrisome because you got used to the comfort, you imagine a skewed imagination of reality. It is surely important to recognize these moments, and rationally stop deluding yourself. On the other hand you can easily not care at all about that worrisome thing, if you are in a circumstance which is much larger than the worry, or gets you used to that type of worry. For example if you are currently working in a very social job, you shall be certainly less worried about social interactions, than if you just walked out of a 6 month isolation. To realize if you are under an effect of irrational worry, see how you spent your last month, if it was in idleness, and comfort, it might be more worrisome to make a choice. Start small then, get into the discomfort you were used to being in before, and suddenly things will seem much easier. Get out of your little comfortable place of idleness, head out where it is at least slightly less comfortable.
The big deal decisions worry:
This is a type of worry, in which you are worried about some life changing decisions. Into this worry naturally falls the expectancy of uncertainty. Hurt in the gut. You are afraid naturally of this big decision or change in your lifestyle. Humans are keen to keep to their old habits, because that is the strategy which worked for their survival. For this type of worry, it is reasonable to practice mediation, it allows you to focus away from the panic that you are experiencing. This worry is usually quite more intense than any other worry, it is immediate and powerful. When you feel this worry, you might experience a strong feeling in the belly. This normally can feel like a sign that something is really wrong, but there is one viewpoint which may reduce this a little. Realize that this feeling is there to make you stronger, preparing you for the fight that you are about to embark on. The gut is constructing the inner power within you. Also it is a completely natural thing, because of which your genome survived this long. Fear only happens up until the moment of the event that you are afraid of. How exactly does the brain respond to something that has not yet happened, by creating this feeling? It must predict the future, so in essence you are only afraid of your own imagination, of something that is not yet real. And when you then actually experience it, it is hardly ever so fearful at the moment.
This sensation in the stomach, before an event which you are uncertain about, is only a signaling of your body’s preparation to undertake certain things. You can think about it, as a mitigator of your worry, but why irritate yourself even more? I think it is always better to incline towards helpful beliefs, than to necessarily bother yourself with truth. Truth is uncertain, unstable. Maybe exists only in certain distinction between complete ignorance, and less of an ignorance, but still an ignorance. So having said that, let’s think about it, as a helper, the sensation in your body signals to you, the strengthening of your body, preparation for change. Strength and vitality, you can feel it spreading from the stomach, into the arms, through the head, imagining how it brings you power.
Worry in essence is a good thing, because it makes you get out of your comfort zone, there is a reason you are inclined to do this thing that you are worried about, and that has only arisen out of previous long term (not so strong) worry. The little reminder every day, that comes from your understanding of the future. That if you shall not act, you shall stay stuck in place.
The worries about daily tasks:
Those in turn are more of an unconscious cause for procrastination. Examples: What if this will not work? What if I make a mistake? What if doing this isn’t what I enjoy doing in life, and I shall waste a lot of time on it? What should I do first? What is more important to do? How much time should I spend on each task? Those are some examples of what your mind might spew out because of worry. Those aren’t necessarily thoughts that might come out as worry at first, but these are exactly the thoughts which cause procrastination and idleness.
How do you counter these? Well, there is no way that you can know about the future success of your course of action. Thus try things out, do an experiment. And if it will not work, try another experiment. You will never waste time like this, you will always put in effort, and never will feel down, if that which you are experimenting with truly matters to you, and you are truly curious about it. Also another good thing to use is a timer, and complete focus on the work. If you will set yourself a 30 minute time frame, to work on something you shall rid yourself of the overwhelm, that stops you from pursuing it. Here is an article where I delve deeper into this: https://eittl.com/considerations-of-inner-restraint/
It is the most beneficial thing in life to think positively about your outcomes no matter what is happening. There is literally no reason for thinking any other way.
Worry is a form of procrastination, it allows you to worry and steers you away from work under the precedent of making thoughtful efforts about your future. This thinking may seem as a good way to spend your time, and finally resolve your issues, but it is quite ignorant to think like this. Because the thing is, you shall not reach any reasonable satisfactory conclusion without experimenting with things in the real world, you are in essence trying to build a reality, out of abstractions in your mind, which are created out of the limited theoretical information that is available to you. This will result only in the ferrywheel of doubtful indecisive suffering, and nothing against that, if you like to spin in self fulfilling circles, the better for you.
- Additional strategies:
You reduce worry by doing your own work, by putting in the effort. When you do your work that you yourself have chosen to do, it means something to you. Then your worries are immediately brought down only because your work acts as a kind of buffer zone for your doubtfulness of self-worth. When you are truly trying, you are truly putting in the effort, than even if it will not work out, you knew that you have tried your best, you know that you only got unlucky and that you have not wasted your time, you have learned a lot and did a lot, and that will only help you in your further efforts
I will handle it, this is another way you can answer your worry. Say to yourself I will handle it. Answer to each occurring thought about something worrisome: I will handle it. But what if It will snow tomorrow so much that I will not be able to drive to work? I will handle it. But then I will get fired. I will handle it. But then I will have to find a new job. I will handle it…. ect…
try to shift your focus away from your worry. For this strategy it is impeccable to try to be aware of your own thoughts, to register when they go against your goodwill, and when they are in accordance with it. To recognize that you don’t have to identify with your thoughts, that you can take them to be only these floating words in space, which truly do not mean anything. It is much within your power to choose positive thoughts, the positive mindset, usually when you procrastinate or worry it is because you actually chose for some reason, because you actually want to avoid something, or protect yourself against some uncertainty of other possible threats…
Appreciation. After all, what is there to worry about, if you are able to read this article? If you are in a developed country, where there is no danger of being killed, tortured, starved… What are you afraid of? That your boss will scream at you? So what? Let him scream, it is not any of your business to care about what he does. Let him scream till he dies.
Why is worry actually a good thing? Because it forces you to progress. Imagine a world where you wouldn’t be worried, what a dismal borning place that would be, worry reminds you of your aliveness, worry makes you aware. When you worry you do care about life. How could you worry, and not care about life? If you worry about life it is meaningful to you. If you think it’s not then you are only deluding yourself with abstractions. Worry helps you to overcome obstacles, pushes you to improve, serves you for the betterment of your life’s standart. Be grateful for it, to be feelingless is to be inhuman. Without feeling there is no guidance.
- Be aware off :
The fallback on the base level of understanding of worry. Forgetfulness is a cause of much distress, because you tend to forget that which you have learned, you don’t really remember in the tense moment your previous intentions, or what your outlook on the world really is. Thus it is wise either to write down what you want to remember and come back to it in the time of need, or you can come back to this article each time you start to worry again.
There is a base level of worry for each individual to which he can fall back to, identify your worries, identify what worries you on your base level, in what ways do you think in social situations? To what level do you become ignorant when you fall back to this level? What do you care most about in this time of ignorance?