Make Progress Towards The Future Today

Are you constantly thinking of tomorrow? Life can feel overwhelming with daily demands. Continue reading for tips to be present. 

Don't worry about tomorrow; make some progress today. 

Worry is something every person has likely experienced from time to time, some more than others. It can be hard not to worry, especially when facing situations with uncertain outcomes. It can be our nature to want to know the answers and what to expect. When we don't have that, our minds can start to worry.

About Being Present

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines worry as "to afflict with mental distress or agitation, to fuel or experience concern or anxiety."

Here is what worry can look like in real life: Worry is what happens when you are facing a situation in which you don't know what to expect or you do know what to expect and don’t like the projected outcome. Your mind might start to think through everything that could happen. 

Author and speaker Joyce Meyer describes worrying as a rocking chair. She says when you worry, you are constantly moving but are making no progress on getting anywhere, just like when you rock in a rocking chair. The chair is in constant motion, but you only stay in one place. 

Some worrying could be healthy and even help us achieve our goals. However, worrying excessively can harm our mental and physical health. For example, worrying can cause you to experience muscle aches and pain. It can also increase your blood pressure, lower your libido, upset your stomach, and cause extreme fatigue. Your heart and lungs can also be affected by excessive worry.

Worrying can leave you with an overall sense of doom, which may lead to panic or anxiety attacks, or depression. People with anxiety and depression can have a tough time breaking the cycle and pulling out of that depressive mindset. It can lead to withdrawal from relationships, social anxiety, lower productivity, and not taking care of yourself physically, among other things. 

If you are experiencing worry to the point of being depressed, consider reaching out to a professional at BetterHelp. Through BetterHelp, you can get the help you need to fight depression without ever having to leave your home. Professional therapists are available to work with you through online sessions.

Studies show that online therapy can significantly reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. It also offers an excellent solution to people who worry about leaving the house, fitting therapy into a busy schedule, or paying for therapy.

About Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation is an exercise that involves focusing your mind on something inside or outside of yourself, typically with the intention of calming your thought processes or gaining more control over your inner monologue.

Mindfulness can take many forms but can involve simply closing your eyes, relaxing your mind, and focusing on the present moment. For example, you may focus on your breathing, what your senses are experiencing, or what's happening around you at the present moment. 

Mindfulness can allow you to shut out the things that have been weighing heavily on your mind. While doing this, you can purposely choose what to think about. This can be a good practice to use anytime you feel yourself becoming overcome by worry. It can help you lower your heart rate, settle your body, and refocus your mind.

Take Action

As mentioned above, when we worry, we are typically not taking any action. Instead, we are simply thinking about a problem and rehearsing it in our minds repeatedly. If you want to overcome worry, start taking action in the present moment. Stop focusing on what the problem is and start thinking about possible solutions. Start taking action when you have an idea that could improve the situation. And if there isn’t much you can do to solve the issues worrying you, then focus on making yourself feel better through exercise, meditation, creative expression, or something else that can calm your nerves.

About Feelings

Worry is often rooted in fear. For example, you may feel worried because of fear of the unknown. Therefore, it can be helpful to acknowledge the fear instead of trying to cover it up.

Once you have acknowledged what you are afraid of, you can reframe your beliefs around that fear. Many times, our worries are exaggerated. What we spend so much time worrying about often ends up not happening. So, it can be helpful to think about what you're afraid of and look at it in a new light. When you try to avoid thinking about it, you can end up worrying about it even more and making your worry even bigger. Instead, confronting your worry head-on can diminish some of its power over you.

About Thoughts

Many people may be unaware that we can control our thoughts and perceptions. Our thoughts do not have to control us. While it may be typical for you to worry about a situation, you can stop yourself from thinking about it altogether. We can control the perspective we choose to have on things. We choose whether to view things positively or negatively and how we respond to those perspectives.

Instead of simply trying to stop thinking about what is worrying you, try to replace dysfunctional thoughts with functional ones. Try to put that practice into your life with other situations. For example, instead of worrying about forgetting the presentation that you're giving to a customer tomorrow, try focusing on practicing before your presentation and telling yourself something along the lines of, "I know the information that I'm going to discuss, and I'm going to do a good job." Our words and thoughts can be surprisingly compelling, and we can choose what we say and think.

Takeaway

If you sometimes feel anxious about everything, it could be a good idea to talk to a professional. Talk to a therapist at BetterHelp to get on the road to a calmer and easier life. 

Online therapy is just as effective as in-person therapy, and in fact, studies have found it to be more effective when it comes to anxiety and depression. For example, even three months post-treatment, a University of Zurich study found 57% of online therapy clients no longer had depression compared to 42% of traditional in-person therapy clients.

Therapy can help you get out and move forward if you get caught in anxious thought cycles.