7 Things We Worry About And Why We Can Safely Ditch Them All

Your time is worth more

There are legit things to worry about. A war, for one. Whether you’ll be able to pay your rent, put food on the table. A loved one is very sick. Those are real things that can devastatingly affect you and others.

But there are other things we worry about from time to time that simply isn’t worth your time. Psychology Today talks about when worrying is going from being a constructive thinking process to a mental health problem. This is when it’s becoming a regular, daily obsession and an uncontrollable process driven by the urges we feel to fix all potential uncertainties we face in life.

The truth is we can’t solve it all, and here are some of the worries I believe we can safely ditch. We’re better off without them.

The future

Around 75% of worries are about the present or the future, something a study from the American Psychological Association highlights. Worries from the respondents fell into several different categories, and the future was a big one. We want to predict it all, make sure it’s going as smooth as planned.

But why worry about things that haven’t happened yet?

You’re doing your best, most likely. What more is there to do?

Work

Is usually something that is taking up a significant amount of our time during the day. Why let it into your mind during your off-time, too? As long as you’re doing your best, that is really all you can do.

No matter the pressure at work, we all need some downtime.

And if you for some reason end up losing your job, odds are you are wanted on the job market. Especially these days. The journey might be hard and packed with challenges, but it’s not worth worrying about before anything has happened.

Mistakes

Most of us worry about making mistakes.

Mistakes in relationships, mistakes at work. Tiny ones, giant ones. But the truth is we are not perfect, all of us will from time to time make some pretty big mistakes. That’s ok.

Alice Boyes, Ph.D., writes in Harvard Business Review of how being scared of making mistakes doesn’t make you more or less likely to make good decisions.

If you worry a lot in a way that focuses only on how bad the experience of stress and uncertainty feels, you might end up doing or saying the wrong things. But if you understand how anxiety works at a cognitive level, you can actually use it to motivate careful but bold and well-reasoned choices.

What people think

Something basically all teenagers everywhere worry about. I did, for sure.

Isn’t it fascinating how much time we spend in our early years worrying about what others think? Once we get a little bit older, gain knowledge, grow our confidence, we tend to let go of worrying about what others things.

We just don’t care.

And we look back at those early years and think about how small and silly those worries were.

It’s one of the most beautiful things about growing up.

Being rejected

I have done my fair share of this one.

I was worried if I’d get into the college I wanted to or if I’d get the job I wanted to. My fear of being rejected has always been career-oriented. I’ve been lucky enough to have good relationships in my life and rejection has not entered into this category, thankfully.

VeryWell Mind points out that fear of being rejected is something that can limit us in life. The fear of rejection also tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a general rule, the lack of self-confidence that is inherent in a fear of rejection makes us more likely to be rejected.

The past

Is already gone.

Why let the ghost of the past affect who you are today?

Sure, we can learn from it, but not let it drag you down or become a massive burden. Learn from what went wrong, remember what went well, and keep moving forward.

If you’ve gone through a traumatic experience in the past, that is something that should be treated. And it’ll probably take time. As I mentioned earlier, this article is about the small things we worry about. Why you made that move or didn’t make that one. Or why you settled for a salary instead of negotiating.

Getting old

We’re all on the journey, getting older by the day. It’s not a bad thing.

This article in Health says it perfectly:

Reframe your traits as positives — those forehead lines are like tiger stripes; you’ve lived a good life and earned ’em!

Also, remind yourself that no one is going to love you less. The relationships that matter, the ones you put work into maintaining, will continue to thrive. Friendships get better with age; you have more memories, and the time spent together feels more precious.

Worrying about what getting older may bring is normal, but in my experience, life gets better with time. Sure, childhood memories can be carefree and blissful, but that was just the beginning of your journey.

Keep at it.