The 5 Myths of Worry and How to Dispute Them
Ever find yourself consumed with worry and unable to break the cycle? Ever feel like worry consumes your whole day and sucks the energy from you? If so, you’re not alone!
If worry is something you struggle with from time to time, I’m going to give you 5 tips that can help you break that toxic cycle. But, before we do that, there are 5 myths about worry that we must review first! By reviewing them, I hope to help people better recognize them in their own thinking.
The 5 Myths of Worry
Myth 1: Worry shows that I care
If you believe this, you might think, “I worry about people because I care about them, and if I didn’t worry, it would be a sign I didn’t care.
Myth 2: Worry helps me prepare and problem solve
If you believe this, you might think, “I worry about my finances and doing so helps me be better prepared.”
Myth 3: Worry helps motivate me
If you believe this, you might think, “I worry about my health and this motivates me to go to the gym.”
Myth 4: Worry helps prevent negative outcomes
If you believe this, you might think, “If I worry about the worst case scenarios, then I’ll be better able to recognize and avoid them.”
Myth 5: Worry helps prevent negative emotions
If you believe this, you might think, “My dog is old. If I worry about his passing, then it won’t hurt as much when it happens as I was able to emotionally anticipate it and not be blindsided.”
Any of these sound like you?? Perhaps you’re even thinking, why are these bad? They seem fine to me…
Well, here’s where the 5 tips come in! For the sake of a thought experiment, let’s argue the exact opposite of each one.
5 Tips to Dispute Thoughts of Worry
Myth 1: Worry shows that I care
Counterpoint Tip 1: Worry doesn’t show anything! Doing something for someone like one of the five love languages actually shows that you care: an act of service, kind words, quality time, giving a gifts, etc.
Myth 2: Worry helps me prepare and problem solve
Counterpoint Tip 2: If you’re worried about your finances, worry doesn’t actually do anything. Creating a budget, selling some stuff, meeting with a financial advisor…These action steps actually do something!
Myth 3: Worry helps motivate me
Counterpoint Tip 3: Worry is actually more amotivational than motivational. How many times have we not tried something due to worry about failure or judgement? Worry is often a non-starter!
Myth 4: Worry helps prevent negative outcomes
Counterpoint Tip 4: If I think, “Don’t blow it, don’t blow it, don’t blow it,” all my brain hears is “blow it.” A more positive self-talk like, “Be relaxed. Be cool. Be confident,” tends to work a lot better!
Myth 5: Worry helps prevent negative emotions
Counterpoint Tip 5: If a pet passes away, it’s going to sting no matter when it happens. However, if you worry about it happening before it does, it just steals you from the present positive moment of being fully present with your animal during the remaining time you have. That time is too valuable to spend worrying!
So there it is! 5 myths about worry and 5 tips on how to recognize and dispute them!
Now, none of this happens overnight. We train our brains over time, and it takes time and effort to retrain them as well. Worry is an energy-draining, sucky state of thinking. I hope these tips are helpful to break the cycle!
Image citation: https://www.wework.com/ideas/worklife/six-ways-to-break-out-of-your-next-worry-spiral