Where to find your worry trap
A clinical study done with people from 18-59 years old concluded that most people worry about the same things. The most popular categories for worrying are personal relationships, work, financial, aimless future, and lack of confidence. Around 75% of these worries revolve around situations that may happen right now or in the future. Ou brain is frequently forecasting problems and finding issues for you to worry about that more likely might never happen.
Another fascinating factor is that depending on where you are also playing a critical part in your mind’s spending on worrying. It runs out we spend our worrying time when we are in our bedroom between 9 pm to 3 am. Most of our concerns tend to arise at nighttime making your mind a perfect place to disrupt sleep.
A key factor about how much time we spend on worrying is how it is linked to anxiety problems. From a mental health perspective, the more intense your worries are, and how much time you spend paying attention to them, the more like you are to ignite anxiety.
People who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks do not worry about different people who do not suffer from these problems. They all worry about the same issues, but the anxiety sufferers feed more the worry and stay with it a lot longer.
Why do we hold on to worry?
Many explanations can answer this question. It can be genetics, the brains’ survival instinct, family history, trauma, culture, and social influences. Some of these categories we do not have control of, nor can we change. But there is one aspect that can significantly influence how much time you spend worrying, self-awareness.
Unlock the mind’s addiction
Identifying that your mind is in a repetitive pattern of worry gives you the key to unlocking anxiety. Whether you realize it or not, if you are suffering from excessive worry and anxiety, you are addicted to worrying.
It is within you to increase awareness of any unhealthy thinking pattern so you can reduce them. It is not that you worry about things that other people don’t; your anxiety is related to spending more time and more effort in perfecting worry.
How to unlock
Earlier, I gave you a clue of what could be an excellent strategy to increase self-awareness about your worrying addiction. I mentioned how our mind spends more time worrying in the evening hours when you are in your bedroom. Consider paying more attention to what is going on in your mind. Listen to what your inner dialogue is talking about between 9 pm to 3 am. Take time to focus and mindfully listen to what stories your mind is narrating at these crucial hours.
Self-awareness is the simple exercise of just paying attention and noticing what is happening. Starting tonight, take a break and observe what your thoughts are saying. What is the content and ideas that my mind is focusing on?
One quote
Unknown
“The worst problem for me is worrying at night. It’s like a floodgate opens and all the crap from the past and worries about the future come pouring out. And the worrying is totally pointless. It doesn’t fix anything. Doesn’t prepare me or heal me.”
One question
What is your mind saying when you go to sleep?