It’s normal to worry sometimes. We live in a high-pressure world, and most people have to juggle many responsibilities all at once. But learning to stop yourself from worrying too much is a skill that will help your mental health in the long run. When you’re able to quiet your anxious thoughts, you’ll be better able to cope with life’s difficulties and take care of your body and mind. Here are a few tips to help you stop worrying.
Recognize Your Worry Triggers
Your anxious thoughts are most likely linked to specific situations, environments, or stressors. These triggers typically include work deadlines, financial concerns, parenting, health worries, or relationship issues. Identifying what sets off your anxiety can help you ward off incoming thought spirals. Start by:
- Keeping a journal of your anxious thoughts
- Notice when and where anxiety occurs, as well as what you were doing or thinking beforehand
- Make a note of patterns in your worrying
Challenge Your Negative Thoughts
When you’re anxious, your thoughts probably leap to worst-case scenarios, even when they’re unlikely. These catastrophic thoughts can make your anxiety spiral out of control. The key to stopping this cycle is to challenge these negative thoughts and put them into perspective. Here’s how:
- Ask yourself if the worry is realistic or exaggerated
- Consider whether you have any evidence to support the thought
- Imagine the best-case or most likely scenario, not just the worst
This cognitive reframing process helps you shift your mindset from a fear-based perspective to a more balanced, realistic one. Over time, you’ll begin to recognize your negative thought patterns and feel less overwhelmed by them.
Try Relaxation Techniques
When you’re feeling anxious, your body has a stress response, causing fight-or-flight symptoms. You might find your heart racing, your breath getting shallower, and your muscles tensing up. This response doesn’t get your mind to a calmer place. Learning to relax your body can help interrupt this stress response. Try out these techniques:
- Deep breathing: Slow, deep breaths activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which counters the fight-or-flight response.
- Progressive muscle relaxation: This involves tensing and relaxing each muscle group in your body, which helps release physical tension.
- Visualization: Imagine a peaceful place or situation in vivid detail to mentally escape from anxious thoughts.
- Mindfulness: Focus on your breath, bodily sensations, and details around the room. Allow your thoughts to simply exist and pass through your mind.
Set Boundaries with Worry Time
It might sound counterintuitive, but setting aside dedicated “worry time” can actually help you better manage your anxiety. By giving yourself permission to worry for a set amount of time each day, you can reduce the tendency to worry endlessly throughout the day. Relegating your anxious thoughts to a specific time will help you manage them as they come up. This might look like:
- Choosing a specific time of day (such as 15–30 minutes) to focus on your worries.
- During this time, write down your concerns or think through them without distraction.
- Once your worry time is over, commit to putting those worries aside until the next session.
Are You Dealing with Excessive Worrying?
Anxious thoughts are a vicious cycle. If your worrying is disproportionate to the situation or prevents you from living happily, consider talking to a therapist. You may have a diagnosable anxiety disorder, and it’s important to speak with the proper mental health professionals to get you help. In therapy, you can learn where your anxiety is coming from, how to cope with anxious thought patterns, and better ways of approaching your life’s difficulties.
To find out more about how to stop your anxious thoughts, please reach out to us to learn more about anxiety counseling.
