Though anxiety, worrying may sound unobtrusive compared to, say, cancer, it’s vital that we learn how to cope with them.
A survey by the American Institute of Stress suggests that 77 percent of adults in America experience physical symptoms caused by stress and one-third of them are living with extreme pressure.
This. Is. Serious. You must learn how to cope with stress and worries if you ever want to be happy. I think this is everybody`s ultimate goal, isn’t it?
So, today I made you a short list of four anti-worrying techniques some celebrities use to feel better. Check them out, and try to put what you read into practice.
1. Leonardo da Vinci – The 14,000-page Journal
Before he died, Leo da Vinci left his mentee, Francesco Melzi, half of his notebooks which represented over seven thousand pages full of philosophical musings, reflections on personal and domestic problems, observations of scholars he admired and tons of jokes and fables.
People rarely saw Da Vinci without a notebook and for many scholars, such as Michael J. Gelb author of How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci, journaling —i.e., expressive writing— was key to the Italian`s extraordinary intelligence.
A 2017 study on chronic worriers by Michigan State University found that those who had written about how they felt before an upcoming exam felt more relaxed, performed better, and used fewer brain resources —i.e., were less tired— than those who didn`t.
Another study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress found that four journaling sessions —20 to 60 minutes each— helped returning veterans cope with their reintegration problems.
2. Ramit Sethi: The Worry Vault Technique
Ramit Sethi is a personal finance advisor, entrepreneur, and bestselling author. He also has a tremendous anti-worrying technique which he calls, “The Worry Vault Technique,” and it`s based on the idea of procrastinating worrying till later.
The worry vault is an imaginary safe at the backend of your mind in which you throw all your worry thought and tell yourself these magic words, “I`ll worry about it tomorrow.”
This technique works many people worry about stuff that is highly unlikely ever to happen. Some of my friends and family members are chronic worriers, and they often get over-consumed in their thoughts that they may spend hours worrying about small things without taking action.
A chronic worrier may waste hours before an interview worrying about what may, or may not, happen instead of preparing for that interview or getting some rest. It`s wrong because it ruins their mood and waste their energy and further hinders their results.
Using this technique, however, forces you to be present and focus on what you`re doing at this exact moment instead of worrying about future stuff that may, or may not occur.
3. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks – The Over-scheduled Calendar
“The only solution to your mental problems is: Do not be unemployed, and do not be alone.” – Anonymous
One of the scariest periods in the life of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was when he decided to step down as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations in 2013 and develop a new career as an international speaker and author.
He knew that moving from a public job to a “cozier” one could bring him some withdrawal symptoms such as depression so he decided to stay as busy as possible by over-scheduling his calendar —even during the weekends— so there`s no time for regret, over-thinking or depression.
4. Terry Crews – Take that shot, nothing wrong will happen.
“My favorite failure is every time I ever ate it onstage as a comedian. Because I woke up the next day and the world hadn’t ended.” – Patton Oswalt
Fear of failure is one of the reasons why people worry so much. You don`t want to fail cause you care what others may think and you don`t want to look clumsy. But what if you free yourself of that fear.
What if you begin to ask yourself, “What`s the worst thing that may happen?” You will do miracles, according to Terry Crews, the actor, and former NFL player.
One day in 1986, at a high-school basketball game, young Terry Crews decided he`d go for the game-winning shot instead of passing the ball to the team`s star player.
Unfortunately, he missed, and because everyone, even his coach, blamed Crews for losing the state playoffs, he was distraught, alone and with no faith in himself. What got him out of this negativity was realizing that when all the chips were on the line, he didn’t leave his future up to others. He was courageous enough to take the shot.
That moment, as he mentioned in an interview with Tim Ferris, has taught him forever how to deal with the fear of failure. He realized that life isn`t for cowards and that understanding that nothing scary will happen you fail liberates you of many unnecessary worries.
What will happen if you send the email and they don`t reply? If you talk to a cute stranger and they tell you they have a boy/girlfriend? If you say that joke and nobody laughs? You won`t die and, maybe, they accept your pitch, you get the cutie, or they like your sense of humor.
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