When overwhelmed with worry it’s easy to feel like it permeates your very being. It’s hard to separate the feeling from your very core. That’s because it can be powerful, especially if the narrative that runs beneath you (your story) is negative:
“Something bad is going to happen.”
“They won’t like me.”
“If I don’t keep control, I will fall apart.”
Worry can actually help keep you safe in facilitating an appropriate reaction when things are dangerous – or can nudge you to do well in a well-balanced and realistic way (not perfectionism and/or over-achievement). But it’s not helpful when it becomes a permeating and constant drive that stems from a place of fear.
“If I don’t do ___, then something bad is going to happen.”
If you are organized around preventing the “something bad” then it can keep you from enjoying life and others in the way you were meant to.
What you can do:
Remember that your worry is not you. Work with the worry by externalizing it. When it shows up and sits down next to you, say “hello” and ask it what it needs. When you put it outside of yourself, it’s less likely to feel so encompassing and rather a visitor that you can be curious about.
I help people understand the root of their worry and how to develop a different relationship with it so it no longer holds you captive.
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