Key Messages
Learn How To Take Control Of Your Worries With How Not To Worry By Paul Mcgee
Worrying can be detrimental to your health and happiness, and it often doesn’t solve anything.
Our brains are wired to worry, thanks to our evolutionary history where worrying was a useful tool in the face of possible danger – like encountering a saber-toothed tiger!
In today’s world, however, worry is all too common.
Paul McGee’s book “How Not to Worry” offers an effective roadmap to stress-free living.
It takes into consideration the differences between our emotional, primitive and rational brains and provides steps that contribute to breaking free from the vicious cycle of worry.
You will learn how to categorize your worries and begin taking action against them in order to combat stress and anxiety.
Essentially, this book gives us a way out of the spiral of overthinking and rumination by giving us an actionable guide towards a stress-free life.
So if you’re looking for ways to combat worry and find peace of mind again, this could be the perfect read for you!
Stop The Cycle Of Worry, Anxiety, And Stress Before It Takes Over Your Life
It’s important to understand that worrying, anxiety and stress are all interconnected and form an insidious cycle that wreaks havoc on both your physical and mental health.
If left unchecked, this cycle can take its toll on your overall quality of life.
Physically, stress weakens your immune system which leaves you vulnerable to illness and reduces your sex drive.
Mentally, worrying takes up valuable headspace, making it difficult for you to take logical steps or find creative inspiration.
It also impairs your decision-making process by clouding your judgement with endless worrying scenarios so you don’t have the presence of mind to simply enjoy the moment.
The root cause of these worries could be anything from internal overthinking to external triggers such as a barking dog or some other unknown threat.
Whichever the case may be, it’s essential that we become aware of this dangerous cycle so we can prevent our worries from snowballing into anxiety and ultimately into full-blown stress.
The Root Causes Of Worry And How To Tackle Them Rationally
Many people worry because of things that have happened in their past or the fear of the unknown – both being powerful causes of worry.
It’s great if you’re able to recognize what triggers your worried thoughts, such as past painful experiences or even reminders from your parents.
To truly conquer anxiety, it’s essential to confront the cause of your worries.
Taking a step back and getting a better understanding of why certain situations make you anxious will help put your worries into perspective.
If you can manage to control how much thought and energy you devote to those worries, then it’ll be easier to tackle them in a rational manner.
Another way to help yourself is by learning more about the source of your anxieties – whether it’s past experiences or a fear of the unknown.
Knowing more about what is triggering your worries can allow you to actively work on becoming less anxious in those situations and ultimately break away from any uncomfortable feelings associated with them.
Overall, once you understand how and why certain events trigger memories of your past or create fear around the unknown, this can be hugely beneficial in tackling anxiety everything rationally and proactively.
Using The Rational Brain To Combat Worrying: How To Turn Down The Volume On Our Survival Instinct
Our primitive brain and emotional brain both have one main purpose: survival.
They work together to detect danger and respond to it, in turn releasing hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline during moments of stress to boost our energy levels as well as triggers associated with anxiety or fear.
As a result, when these two brains are put in the driver’s seat, we often find ourselves worrying about things more than necessary.
But don’t worry!
There’s another part of your brain that can help you keep your worries in check -your rational brain.
It resides in the higher neocortex area and is responsible for a variety of complex tasks like problem-solving, memory recall and even thinking ahead.
When utilized correctly, it’s ability to help us assess our environment accurately from all angles allows it to counteract the excessive anxieties created by our primitive/emotional brains and prevents us from overreacting or making hasty decisions based on instinct alone.
For example, imagine if instead of salting what they believed were slugs, McGee and his friend decided to wait until morning which gave them the opportunity to evaluate their suspicions objectively before taking action.
That is the power that comes with accessing your rational brain regularly – helping reign in the worries stemming from your primitive/emotional brains while exercising good judgement at the same time!
The Power Of Self-Awareness: A Simple Technique For Tracking Down The Source Of Your Worries
Awareness is the first step towards tackling worries rationally.
This is what the “How Not to Worry” book section delves into.
It’s all about increasing self-awareness and getting to the bottom of your worry by asking yourself, “Where is my worry coming from?”
Then, you can sort it into one of three categories: situational, anticipatory or residual stress.
Situational refers to something happening right now; anticipatory stress deals with future events; and residual looks at past issues that could be causing problems in the present.
Understanding where the anxiety stems from is essential if you want to start tackling it rationally.
Once sorted, ask yourself why do I feel this way? Awareness puts you half way there in understanding the source of your anxiety and allows for focused scrutiny and insight so you can get on top of things sooner rather than later.
How To Sort Out And Address Anxiety: From Historical Worries To Hysterical Fears
When it comes to getting a handle on your worries, the first step is to analyze them.
By analyzing your worries into separate categories you can start to understand their root cause.
First, look at whether your worries are historical, hysterical or helpful.
Historical worries typically stem from experiences in the past – like being mugged while walking down a dark street.
Hysterical worry is irrational anxiety about things like shark attacks or plane crashes that normally have no basis in reality.
And lastly, helpful worry refers to rational behavior caused by real issues – such as an upcoming performance review at work or an end-of-year thesis presentation.
Once you’ve identified each worry, it’s time to work on confronting them and doing something about it Headed down the historical worry path? Seeking out emotional support from someone you trust might be the best course of action going forward.
What if your worries are more hysteria than historical? Consider researching data statistics to get some context on how small the chances of something actually happening are.
Plus, use self reflection techniques to challenge how accurate your predictions usually turn out to be!
Finally if your worries stem from helpful reasoning, then weighing up potential options may be the answer in order make better decisions in future situations.
Take Control Of Your Life: How Understanding Your Influence Can Help You Succeed
If you’re looking for a way to stop worrying, the key is to focus on outcomes you can influence.
That means assessing how much influence you can have over each of your worries – use a sliding scale from 0 (no control) to 10 (full control).
Once you’ve done that, it’s time to take action and focus on the worries that rank highest in terms of your influence over them.
Stephen R.
Covey, author of the influential book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, puts this idea into practice.
He notes that everyone has worries, and encourages people to identify those parts of life where they could make a positive difference.
In his own experience, he saw how some colleagues encouraged themselves with new career paths while others felt defeated – simply because they didn’t believe they had any control over their lives anyway.
Scientific studies confirm his point as well.
A 2012 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed an inverse correlation between optimism and depression – the more optimistic people who overestimate their influence were less likely to suffer from depression than those with a realistic outlook on life.
Bottom line? Taking action by focusing on what outcomes you can influence is essential if you want to put an end to worrying!
Harness The Power Of Imagination To Reduce Stress And Anxiety
The human imagination is an incredibly powerful tool.
It can be used to create worry and stress, as well as to reduce anxiety.
Just think of the famous “imagine the crowd naked” trick used to calm your nerves when giving a speech – it’s such a simple suggestion yet it works, showing how effective imagination can be in terms of controlling worrying thoughts.
Humans are unique creatures in this regard – no other animal experiences stress triggered solely by their mind.
Close your eyes and imagine giving a trainwreck of a presentation- just thinking about this embarrassing scenario is enough to make you feel anxious!
This reconfirms that the primitive brain cannot differentiate between real and imagined events, meaning they have the same effect on us (triggering ‘fight or flight’ responses).
However, we need not only use our imagination in negative ways.
It can also assist us combat worry and anxiety if used correctly – so how do we do that? Firstly, instead of mulling over worst-case scenarios we should ask ourselves what actionable steps we can take influence any outcomes.
Secondly, try to think up four “advisors” you can turn for advice in life’s more stressful moments- these could be anyone from Barack Obama to Beyonce!
Finally, as an example from McGee’s book “How Not To Worry”, Imagine yourself as one of these role models during stressful situations – if Anna was able to pretend she was Madonna for her public speaking engagement then so can you!
In conclusion, your imagination is a powerful tool that does not just trigger but also alleviate worrying.
Used correctly it has limitless potential when it comes improving mental well-being.
How To Defeat Stress And Anxiety: Stop Putting Yourself Down, Don’t Try To Please Everyone Around You, And Ask For Help When You Need It
Sometimes the best way to reduce or even eliminate worries and anxieties is to simply change your outlook on personal triggers, stop trying to please everyone around you, and learn to ask for help when needed.
For one, try to stop putting yourself down.
It’s a sure-fire way of boosting your worries and anxieties because it makes your problems seem insurmountable.
Imagine a professional athlete telling herself she shouldn’t even try something because she doesn’t have a chance of winning – it’s easy to see how that would affect her performance.
So lighten up and take a load off instead!
Additionally, resist the urge to put other people’s opinions before your own happiness.
If you’re trying on clothes in a store, ask yourself if you like the way that shirt looks instead of thinking about what others might think.
This may be a trivial example, but the same frame of mind can be applied tobigger decisions as well such as career paths or partners.
Finally, don’t hesitate to ask for help whenever needed – sometimes we succumb to anxiety because we refuse or are afraid of looking weak in front seeking help from others.
There is no shame in admitting that you need some extra assistance in tackling problematicsituations – so enable powerful networks around you and leverage their support when things get tough!
Ultimately with these tips in hand,you’ll be well on your way towards reducing worry and embracing life!
Wrap Up
The book “How Not to Worry” contains a lot of helpful advice on how to deal with the worries and anxieties of everyday life.
The key message from the authors is that worrying is not only damaging to your health and wellbeing, but can often lead you down a negative feedback loop.
Therefore, it’s important for you to recognize when you’re worrying, categorize which worries are productive and then attempt to do something about them.
One actionable advice we get from reading this book is to exercise as a means of relieving anxiety or worry.
Exercise – like going to the gym or taking a hike – releases endorphins which will make us feel calmer and happier, helping us tackle our problems more effectively instead of just fretting away at them.
All-in-all, the book “How Not To Worry” offers some useful insight into managing our worries and anxieties in order to lead a healthier and happier life.
