Let It Be Episode 26: Worry

LetItBe-Worry

A reader recently contacted us and asked this:

“If you have time to focus one of your podcasts in the future on “worry” or rather, “worrying less”, I would be forever grateful! Mostly, my worry comes from my internal feelings to situations – worrying about not pleasing my work colleagues, my boss, worrying I’m not doing enough for the kids in my class, worrying I am meant to reach all these particular life milestones at certain ages (i.e. when is the right time to have kids? etc. etc.!), worrying I’ve said the wrong thing to a friend, the list goes on! As I am sure you can both understand, worry can take up a lot of energy and result in mental exhaustion. Do you have any tips or strategies that you use to ensure worry does not take over?”

As a professional worrier myself, this sure hit a chord with me! Happily, while Brooke used to be the consummate worrier, she is less so now.

In this episode we discuss:

  • Why worrying is pretty pointless and changes nothing when bad things do happen.
  • Why it’s hard to rationalise with our brains despite knowing worrying is pointless.
  • A few strategies for managing the worry we feel about uncertainty and about what people think of us.

I also ponder: “Am I a control freak to manage my worry … or do I worry a lot because I am a control freak?”

In the end, we all have to remember this classic from Winston Churchill:

“I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

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