The Art of Ending Your Worrying

The act of worrying is one of the most useless and tormenting things you can do to yourself, but there is an art to ending the worry with logic.

“Worry refers to the thoughts, images, and emotions of a negative nature in a repetitive, uncontrollable manner that results from a proactive cognitive risk analysis made to avoid or solve anticipated potential threats and their potential consequences.”

–Wikipedia

Fear is like worrying, it’s a bodily emotional response telling us something is wrong or will be. With fear, however, it’s not only useful but a fundamental part of our survival instincts – it can help us tackle these situations with increased adrenaline and focus.

Worrying does not have these benefits, in fact it makes the situation worse than it seems while being psychologically (and even physically) straining.

When fear hits us, it can motivate us to make a difference in the situation – it can get our asses moving to do something about it. Fear is a stimulant.

But with worrying, it evokes anxiety and sadness. Your mind is stuck in every aspect of the situation, well knowing nothing can be done to resolve it, at least in the moment. Worrying is a hindrance.

Fear, ironically has much positive potential, worrying has the potential for only the negative.

Fear has purpose, worrying has no purpose.

For the most intellectual species on this planet, we can be remarkably illogical when it comes to emotions.

But when we use our logic, we can stop worrying.

The art of ending your worrying is easier said than done but it’s an exceedingly simple strategy:

Using logic, convince yourself that worrying has no benefit to your well being or effect to change the situation. And if there’s nothing you can do to solve the problem that’s worrying you, then it’s a waste of time, energy and emotion.

So ask yourself, why would you do something so negative regarding something negative making every thing even more negative? Exactly.

If there’s nothing you can do about something, you need to learn to let it go as if giving yourself a perfectly valid excuse to stop worrying, because it is.

If there’s something that you can actually do about something, you can convert the energy it takes to worry into motivation to take action.

“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”

-George Washington

[The featured photo was taken in a bus in Cambodia.]