The Power of Worrying

• Are you single and worried about finding a partner?
• Or, are you in a relationship and worried about how secure the bond is? 
• Are you worried about the toll stress is taking on your life?
• Are you a parent worried about how your child will fare during the upcoming school year?
• Are you going through a break up and feel worried how that break up will affect your family?

There is always so much to worry about, or so it seems.

It is normal to worry. Too much worry, however,  creates anxiety and may impact your physical and mental health.

If you chronically suffer from a knot in your neck, grind your teeth at night, bite your nails, find yourself feeling distracted, or experience feeling out of control, it may be related to anxiety.

I believe that worry _______________________.

Fill in the blank!

Worry and anxiety feed each other. We worry because we mistakenly believe that worrying will give us an extra level of control over something we feel out of control over and will help diminish our anxiety. 

We believe we can keep people safe with our worries.

I have confronted my beliefs about worrying and discovered a slew a false perceptions that reinforced my worry and contributed to feeling anxiety.

My adult son is a tattoo artist in LA. He lives in West Hollywood in an area that does not feel all that safe to me. He is in recovery. Needless to say I worry.

I came to realize that validating my worries, just reinforced my worrying,

Of course you should worry Jodi!

Look where he lives. And covid ....does he take precautions when tattooing?  And his recovery? Literally, I can rationalize that worry until I die.

Yes, I have good reasons to worry. I asked myself, "What does all of this worrying do that is beneficial?" That's when I uncovered my irrational belief. I discovered that I believe that if I worry enough, that worry will somehow keep him safe, thereby reinforcing my worrying until it grows into anxiety.

Worry and people pleasing also go together.

We believe worry proves we care about another.

In this people pleasing form of worry, we make our worry very visible and obvious to show another we care. Caring for another is listening, empathizing, not worrying.

There are many different covert motivators for worrying. Clients often share that they have uncovered that they believe worrying will keep bad things from happening. 

Divorcing parents often uncover that they believe their worrying will make up for their feelings of guilt. Coparents will tell me that they realize they worry to remain responsible to their children when they are not with them.

These hidden motivators of worry contribute to anxiety.

Uncovering the false promise of worry can help us stop worrying and contribute to diminishing our anxiety.

I am challenging you to look at what worry means to you. You may have underlying beliefs in the power of worrying that reinforce your worrying.

Follow me on Instagram and DM me. https://www.instagram.com/drjodipeary/ Let me know what you discover and whether your new awareness creates positive change.