Worry is a multi-billion dollar industry stretching its tentacles into publishing, pharmaceuticals and psychotherapy. Of all the diseases of attitude, this one is probably the most destructive and debilitating of all to individuals of all ages. In this lesson, we will discuss why you should not allow worry to drain your energy.
Life is a continuous stream of choices and decisions. Every second, you are choosing and deciding to do something worthwhile, destructive or nothing at all. Everyone knows that we choose our jobs, we choose our partners and spouses, and we choose our friends and those we associate with. But what often gets overlooked is that we also choose our emotions. Many times, it is thought that emotions are something that just happens. However, I believe we can also direct our emotions positively, just as a director in a movie chooses how an actor will play their role.
Your emotions, if you choose, can be something that you can learn to master. You can take two different people, put them in the same situation, and get two totally different reactions from each of them. Let's say that John is driving down the road and is cut off by another driver. John begins yelling and screaming, and more often than not, will be upset about his incident for the rest of the day. However put Jim in the same exact situation, and he acted differently. Jim didn't yell or scream and he let the incident go minutes after it occurred and went on to enjoy the rest of his day.
You see, outside circumstances can't make you feel anything. You choose, even though it happens at lightning fast speed, how you're going to feel. And even if your first reaction is negative, you have it in your power to change it to positive at any moment. A person's first reaction is usually to point their finger outward at the cause of how they are feeling. It's very easy to do. But the finger should be pointed inwards, for that is where all the control lies.
Now that you know that you can be in total control of your emotions, it would be a fitting time to tell you that you NEVER have to worry again. If you do, at least you're now aware that you are doing so by choice.
Worry is a particularly deadly disease because it can cause a multitude of health, family and economic problems. One of the great misfortunes of worry victims is that they waste valuable time and energy trying to defend or prepare against events that never happen. Thus if you always await impending disasters, it's difficult to enjoy life.
Many worries can be avoided. For example, a student plays video games instead of preparing for an important test and then worries about the poor results and consequences of embarrassment he or she will face. Or a sales rep is unprepared to make a presentation for an important client and worries that he will look stupid and embarrass himself. These are worries that can be avoided by investing your time wisely and being totally prepared and confident to face all of life's challenges.
Hundreds of books have been written to convince the chronic worrier that there is hope for them. Dale Carnegie wrote a great book titled "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." This book is mandatory reading when you take the Dale Carnegie Sales Course. I took this course and found the book to be GREAT! Many real life examples of worry are studied in this book and a great deal of insight is gained on how to overcome worrying.
But I believe that the best way to overcome worry is to always have worthy goals that you are striving to achieve. You should always stay busy thinking and planning about positive achievements. Then preparing and acting out your plans will make you feel like you are in total control of your life. You'll build a tremendous amount of confidence in yourself and raise your self-esteem to high levels. And in the process you'll have very little time or reason to worry about a poor outcome or disaster, due to being unprepared.
Begin today to eradicate your worries and replace them with worthy goals, methodical planning and hard work. Start anticipating positive results so you and your loved ones can experience the many joys that a worry-free lifestyle has to offer. Life is just too short to worry constantly and drain the energy needed to survive and thrive.
Charles Schultz shared a great perspective on this topic when he said - "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia."