Peace

 “Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles. It takes away today’s peace.” (Randy Armstrong)

Do you ever feel troubled or concerned about certain issues in your life? This definition for worrying sounds like me. I consistently find myself worrying over people or situations I have no control over. The only thing I do have control over is my emotional response to the irritant. Below are the top things people worry about (in no particular order), and solutions to help deal with those concerns:

Health: Health anxiety is worrying about developing a serious disease or health condition. It is a very real problem for many people, which can negatively impact other areas of their life. The Western diet is high in saturated fats and carbohydrates.

In the last few decades, there has been an increase in weight-related illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure in countries like the UK and the USA. It’s not just illness. People also worry about their weight and image. When you’re anxious or depressed, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to be physically fit.

How to solve this: Overcoming health anxiety is tough. Nobody wants to get sick. As you get older, it can also seem more difficult to stay physically active. The only thing that you can do to stay healthy is to make better choices. That means watching your lifestyle choices. You have to reach a point where you realize that your body is the vessel you use to move through your life so it’s important to look after it. There’s absolutely no shortage of illnesses that you can get so it’s vital to pay attention to the way you live.

Even if you can only do a thirty-minute walk daily, you’re taking care of your body to some degree and exercising it. It’s also important to watch what you eat. Even if the things you eat don’t make you fat, they can be causing harm within you like clogging your arteries (or example). Food seems to be the thing most of you struggle with. The short-term effort that goes into cooking healthy meals pays off over the long run.

Money: Whether it’s debt; worrying you won’t be able to cover all your bills next month; or fear about your financial security in the future. Financial insecurity is a major cause of stress. Financial worries can take a heavy toll on your mental health, causing serious anxiety and impacting self-esteem.

This is the number one most common worry that almost everyone has. Many are probably even worse off than you are. The best thing you can do to alleviate financial worries is to get a good handle on your actual financial situation and make a solid plan and budget. Often times, when you get a plan in place, the problem isn’t as big as you’ve built it up in your mind to be.

 How to solve this: There’s really only two ways to solve this problem when you get down to the core of it. You can either try and earn more money, or cut back on your expenses.  You need take some responsibility if you ever want to stop worrying about money. Earning more might not be an option right now so the best thing to do is look at your expenses. Looking at things on a monthly routine, gives you a better perspective.

The past: Another thing people worry about is the past, which is that part of your life that you want to go back and change.  Worrying about this can interfere with your present and future. You can get so trapped in what you have learned from the past that it’s difficult to see a different future for yourself.

How to solve this: What’s done is done. It’s easy to think that our current circumstances are permanent. The truth is with every second that passes you are changing. You can never get that time back so you must commit to the present moment. Your present will once be in your past, and it’s the only thing that you truly have control over. Only compare yourself to who you were yesterday not other people. If you can be a better person and get better each day then you’ll eventually end up in a better position in the future.

You cannot worry about the past because it will only destroy your present, which keep you in a state of worry forever. You can choose to wake up tomorrow and commit to the day, or you can choose to wake up tomorrow and keep yourself in a victimized state again. It really is a choice that only you can make. The past has gone and does not exist anymore. You should only judge yourself on what you’re doing now because it is all you have.

Work: If you’re worried about work on a regular basis, you’re certainly not alone. Most people usually worry about the following things at work:

·       Deadlines

·       Feeling like they’re not good enough for the job

·       Getting a job

·       Going to a job they hate

·       Other people at work

The sad thing is that many of you spend a good part of our lives at work, and you worry over it a lot. Work (of any kind) can be is essential to living life to its fullest. After all, you need money to have a good standard of living so it makes sense to make peace with it. So why do you find it so hard? You could argue that some of you don’t do jobs you enjoy, or find too hard. You might have a boss that is impossible to please.

How to solve this: It is important that you don’t let yourself get too wrapped up in the little stuff. It’s important to remember that you are providing a service to a business to which you are being compensated. If you feel like you’re not ‘good enough’, just remember you were employed there for a reason. The tasks may seem difficult, but it is up to you to take them on.

Whether you win or fail, the important thing is that you try your best. You are not expected to know everything. Instead, you are expected to learn as you go. Everything you do at work is a chance to improve on your skill set and mind set. These new skills can be transferred as you move through life. See your employment as a learning opportunity not something that you are chain down to.

If you hate your job and can’t commit to it properly, it’s probably time you looked for a new one. Putting yourself out there for a job interview is a chance to improve your skills that you can then use for another interview if you don’t succeed the first time. It’s important not to see this scenario as a waste of time, but instead as improving your skill set (for the employment you want) and mindset. If you’re worried about finding a job because you haven’t got one currently, the above also applies.

“Worry [is a] waste of time. Good and bad things will happen in life. You just have to keep living, and not stress over what you can’t control.” (@ImagesBlogspot.com)[i]

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[i] Adapted from:

·       “The Top 5 Things People Worry About and How to Solve Them” by Sean Clarke

·       “Worrying” by the Free Dictionary by Farlex

·       “You’re Not Alone: Top Things People Worry Most About” by Psychological Health Care