Replace Fear with Action

In today’s society, there are plenty of things to worry about. Will I lose my job? What if my daughter gets involved with drugs? Am I getting too fat? Can I keep this relationship going? Will I have enough money at retirement? What if a natural disaster hits my town? Will the economy recover? Worry, worry, worry. News programs don’t help because they typically direct our focus on the worst news they can find, which causes us to worry. Politicians don’t help since they bring up worst-case scenarios to scare you into supporting their policies. All of these factors tend to make us worry and fret about the future.

The sad news is that all of this unnecessary worry robs us of our effectiveness and peace of mind. We can’t enjoy the happy moments of life, because we are too busy worrying. We can’t pursue our dreams because we worry about what might go wrong. The truth is that worry can become so paralyzing that we are literally unable to get anything worthwhile accomplished. Excessive worry can even affect us physically by contributing to stress and even leading to chronic conditions such as anxiety or depression, which negatively affect our emotions, our health, and our productivity.

Now for the good news: 1) things are not as bad as they seem, and 2) most of the things you worry about will never happen. Mark Twain put it this way, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” In other words, what a shame it is to live our lives in a cloud of despair, weighed down with fear, anxiety and worry about something that will likely never happen and over which we have no control!

How do you eliminate worry from your life? The answer is simple. If the thing you are worrying about is something over which you do have control, such as saving for retirement or improving a relationship, stop worrying and do something active about the cause of your worry. If the worry is about something over which you have no control, remind yourself that you have taken all necessary precautions and that the negative event will probably never happen. Reassure yourself that even if the negative event was to happen, you would be alright in the end. Then, immediately replace the worry thought with a positive action: help someone else, read a book, make a great dinner for your loved ones, etc. No matter what the cause of your worry, in every case the cure for worry is the same: replace fear with action!

Success Tip: Worry robs us of happiness, productivity, and peace of mind. Yet, most things we worry about never happen. Eliminate worry from your life by replacing fear with action.