A worker in a refrigeration company one night entered a huge refrigeration container to do routine work. The door accidentally closed leaving him trapped inside. He screamed for hours in desperation. Inside the container, he began to feel colder and weaker. Using his tools, he wrote on the wall of the container, “I am feeling colder and getting weaker. I am dying and these may be my last words.”
Early morning, co-workers found him dead. They remarked, “This man worried himself to death. He could have waited for us till morning.” The refrigerating container had actually broken down ten days earlier.
Worries, doubts, and anxieties are a normal part of life. It’s natural to worry about an unpaid bill, an upcoming job interview, or a first date. But “normal” worry becomes excessive when it’s persistent and uncontrollable. You worry every day about many different things, you can’t get anxious thoughts out of your head, and it interferes with your daily life. Constant worrying, negative thinking, and always expecting the worst can take a toll on your emotional and physical health. It can leave you feeling restless and jumpy, cause insomnia, headaches, stomach problems, and muscle tension, and make it difficult to concentrate at work or school. You may take your negative feelings out on the people closest to you, self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, or try to distract yourself by zoning out in front of screens.
It may seem like a simplistic solution, but talking face to face with trusted friend or family member-someone who will listen to you without judging, criticizing, or continually being distracted-is one of the most effective ways to calm your nervous system and diffuse anxiety. When your worries start spiraling, talking them over can make them seem far less threatening. Keeping worries to yourself only causes them to build up until they seem overwhelming. But saying them out loud can often help you to make sense of what you’re feeling and put things in perspective. If your fears are unwarranted, verbalizing them can expose them for what they are-needless worries. And if your fears are justified, sharing them with someone else can produce solutions that you may not have thought of alone.
If the worry is solvable, start brainstorming. If the worry is not solvable, accept the uncertainty.
