How to Worry Less and Be Happier

When we are asked to articulate our concerns, it forces us to become conscious of them. This can transform anxiety, which tends to be generalized, into fears, which are more specific. What is interesting about the process, and we’ve seen this play out time and again in a variety of contexts, is that when we become specific about a fear, it either e

“Make a worry list,” he said. “What’s a worry list?” I asked. “Exactly what it sounds like. Make a list of every single thing you’re worried about. From the big, truly scary things, to the small, mundane things. Get it all out and onto paper. Then, once it’s all out, look at the list and promise yourself that you will take care of everything on tha

To curb our tendency to worry about things beyond our control, the Stoics advise us to perform a kind of triage with respect to the elements of our life and sort them into those we have no control over, those we have complete control over, and those we have some but not complete control over. Having done this, we should not bother about things over

The main way we try to resist this horrifying state of affairs is by worrying. What is worry, at its core, but the activity of a mind attempting to picture every single bridge that might possibly have to be crossed in future, then trying to figure out how to cross it?

When I notice I’m feeling anxious about something, I ask myself a basic CBT question: “What’s the worst that can happen, and how would I cope with that?” Or, “If a friend had a similar worry, how would I advise them to handle it?” By putting distance between myself personally and the source of the anxiety, I can think more objectively about positiv

You spend more of your time worrying, ruminating, and focusing on what you hope doesn’t happen than you do imagining, strategizing, and planning for what you do.