My Brain's Not Broken

Writing last week’s post about my constant worry made me think of plenty of things (not hard to imagine, right?) But since this isn’t a therapy session, I didn’t want to dive into figuring out why this happens. What I thought would be more helpful is sharing what I’ve done to combat this constant worry since I don’t think I’m alone here. Regardless of any diagnosis, plenty of people deal with this issue. Obviously, some have it worse than others (hello!), but we can all use the same strategies to overcome the problem.

How do we not let constant worry get to us? The easiest way, obviously, is to not let it (insert chuckle here). Obviously, life is always easier said than done. BUT! I do have three mindsets I try to get in to throughout the day. They help me move from one task to another or one situation to another in order to be as productive as I can. It’s not always easy to get into the mindset, but once I do I’m usually in a decent place – at least, by comparison. Here’s what I try to do.

1. I acknowledge that the worry is present. It’s hard to succeed during the day if I don’t address the worries I have. I don’t try to solve them, fix them, or wonder why they are there. I simply acknowledge them, become aware, and soldier on.
2. I know the next place I’m going or what my next task is. When you’re idle, it’s much easier to fixate on anything. By knowing what’s coming next, your brain and body are ready to move on and handle it instead of getting stuck in a mood or a thought. If you think this means you need to make an entire schedule of your day trust me, you don’t (though you can). It’s more about trying to stay one step ahead of yourself in situations.
3. Understanding that something will always be ‘wrong’ – at least, for now. Look, do I feel like there’s always something wrong? Yes. Is there always something wrong? Probably not. But I do much better when I try to co-exist with my problems instead of rushing to solve them – as much as I would like to solve them. I’ve co-existed with depression and anxiety for a long time, and if I can treat this worry the same way, I can at least continue to do what I need to do to get through the way.

While these mindsets might not be the perfect solution for you, I hope they can at least inspire some thinking about what you can to do help combat your own worries. The only way I was able to find that these solutions worked was to try (and fail) in tons of other ways. By choosing to be healthy over being ‘happy’, I found something that works for me and lets me try to work on my next step in the right direction – whatever that looks like!