How Do I Stop Worrying?

If your mind never seems to stop... I'm glad you found your way here.

You don't have to solve tomorrow today.

Take a slow breath.

And let's simply begin with this moment - THIS one... right here that feels like...

"I can't stop worrying."

Perhaps your mind has become so accustomed to worrying that it feels like it's a normal part of your operating system... that pressure of worry... always running in the background... almost like a virus.

As a result... you imagine everything that could go wrong before anything has even happened.
Maybe you replay conversations long after they're over - sometimes on one of those awful loops.
You try to prepare for every possibility...  covering all your bases...
hoping that if you're prepared enough...  you'll somehow prevent what you don't want... from happening.

It can be exhausting.

If this sounds familiar...  I want you to know something.

You're not "just a worrier."

And you're certainly not alone.

Let's sit on the dock together...

For years...  "worried" felt like my full-time job...
scratch that...
worry was my best friend...
yep...
worry and I were besties...

I took worry with me everywhere... joined at the hip we were...

I honestly believed worrying meant I was being responsible.

If I worried enough...  I'd be prepared.
If I worried enough...  I'd keep the people I loved safe.
If I worried enough...  maybe life wouldn't surprise me.

Then one day... I discovered something that completely changed the way I looked at... and experienced... worry.

Worry isn't a requirement for a good life - worry isn't even the responsible thing to do...

Nope...

Worry is a choice...  a habit of choice... 
albeit a subconscious choice... but a choice... all-the-same.

Hear me out on this...

When we don't consciously choose how we wish to feel... we default to the dominant feeling of the moment before - or even the day before... and when we're a "worrier" that feeling is the anxiety of more worry...

And therein... lies the habit... the lack of consciously choosing something different.

Habits can be changed and new choices can be made.

Your choice can be changed --- Right. Now.

We both know that no-one wakes up in the morning and claims: "I'm going to worry today."

Nobody.

Worry is a default... habit.

Your worry habit can be reprogrammed.

Probably not overnight.
And certainly not by pretending everything is fine.
But with one conscious choice at a time... consciously choosing to vibrate at an elevated frequency of energy... like gratitude.

That realization.... tickled me with a feeling I hadn't felt in a very long time.

Relief... and peace.

Let's explore this together...

Have you ever noticed...
that worry almost always wants to live somewhere in the future or in a replay of the past?

"What if it doesn't work out?"
"What if something happens?"
"What if I make the wrong decision?"
"Why if I had made a different choice?
What if... I had stood up for myself?

Meanwhile...
your beautiful mind is so busy rehearsing tomorrow and ruminating about yesterday...  that it quietly misses today.

The interesting thing is...  your mind isn't trying to hurt you.

It's trying to protect you.
It simply learned that staying busy with worry felt safer than trusting the possibilities and divinity within you.

But here's the good news.

Every time you notice you're worrying...
you've already interrupted the pattern.

That moment of awareness gives you something incredibly powerful.

An opportunitiy to choose something different.

And choice is where empowerment and breaking up with your "best friend" worry... begins.

Hmmm... what if...

Imagine what it would feel like to notice a thought weighed down with worry...
taking a deep breath and dropping your jaw to let the air and the tension of worry... out...

and consciously choosing to refocus your thoughts and your feelings on...
something you're grateful for - anything you're grateful for...

and breathing into that state of being grateful - even if the only thing you can grasp to be grateful for is knowing the sun is going to come up tomorrow and you get another opportunity to breathe.

Imagine feeling your shoulders stop screaming with tension and soften.
Your breathing deepens.
Your heart becomes quieter.
And your thoughts regain clarity for solutions to reveal themselves.

The circumstances around you may not change immediately...
but you begin changing your relationship with them from the inside out.

And like a mirror... your external reality will begin to reflect the peace within you.

This one conscious choice...  well...  it changes everything.

Let's take one gentle step...

The next time you catch yourself worrying...  don't argue with the thought.

Simply ask yourself:
"Is this happening right now... or am I visiting tomorrow or have I dragged myself into yesterday?"

If it's not this moment...  gently bring yourself back to today.

By taking slow, deep breath.
Look around the room.

Notice five things you can see.
Three things you can hear.
And one thing you're grateful for.

Worry cannot exist in the same space as present awareness when you elevate your internal frequency to gratitude...  it's physically impossible.

Here's a story from the village...

One student shared something after meeting and working with her Worry Angel that I'll never forget...  she said,

"I was skeptical anyone could teach me the steps I needed to rid myself of worry...  I now know how to purge my worries quickly."

Not because her life suddenly became perfect.  But because she discovered she had more influence over her thoughts than she had ever imagined.

That same possibility exists for you.

When you're ready... continue exploring the village...

You may also find these conversations helpful.

Why do I feel overwhelmed all the time?

Why do I overthink everything?

Why am I so anxious?

Why do I feel so stuck?

How do I improve my life when I don't even know where to begin?

Sometimes the next bridge becomes clear after crossing the first one.