The Art of Letting Go: 9 Tips to Stop Worrying and Enjoy Living

Unpaid bills. A first date. That looming deadline. Tomorrow’s job interview.

Everyone experiences worry, anxiety, and doubt. These feelings are a normal part of life and can be helpful when they motivate you to better plan and prepare.

However, too much worry harms your mental and physical health. It can immobilize you, preventing any healthy action.

​If you worry too much, it’s time to learn how to shake that negativity, control what you can, and let go of what you can’t. The tips in this article can help you stop worrying and start enjoying life.

Don’t put up with uncontrollable, persistent worries. Anxious thoughts that won’t leave you alone can cause many other problems in your life. You might avoid safe risks, people, places, and things.

​Constant worry can spiral out of control, leading you to fear things that won’t likely happen. Eventually, it can lead to issues like:

Worry can consume your thoughts and prevent you from living life to the fullest. It can negatively affect your job, studies, interests, and relationships–no one wants that.

​Try the following to help you kick worry to the curb.

If only telling yourself, “Don’t worry,” kept you from worrying…
Unfortunately, concentrating so hard on not doing something results in you giving that thing extra attention.

Instead, pick a window of time to worry about things. That way, you can reserve worries for a less productive time of day, avoid dwelling on them all day, and prevent them from negatively affecting your sleep.

​Here’s how to craft your worry period:

Exercising control over your thoughts using this technique improves your productivity and self-esteem.

Feelings don’t always align with truth.

You are biased. Everyone is. Every story has at least two sides–the truth and what someone perceives as truth. Everyone takes in information differently, filtering it through their personal experiences and cognitive abilities.

Cut to the truth of your worries, anxieties, and doubts by stating cold, hard facts to yourself. Take out emotions and any embellishments.

​The difference between the truth and your perception is called cognitive distortion. Cognitive distortions take time and practice to overcome, but keep at it.

It’s time to retrain your brain to challenge cognitive distortions. Learn to recognize negative, unhelpful, and untruthful thoughts.

​Look for evidence of the thought being both true and untrue. Ask yourself how the thought might help or harm you. Find a more positive way to view things. Rank the probability of your worry coming true from high to low. Imagine what you would say to a friend to help them through the hardship.

Worrying rarely results in solutions. Turn worry into action. Strategize a way to solve your dilemma.

Some things you’ll have little control over. Find what piece you can control and lean into that. For example, let’s say you’re worried about getting cancer. While you can’t completely control the outcome, you can make a plan to learn what you can from health experts and cancer survivors.

​Remember that everything carries a certain amount of uncertainty. You can’t control all variables.

Mediation is an often overlooked way to clear your brain. People may shy away from it, thinking it takes too long or involves making weird noises.

Meditation doesn’t have to look a certain way. It can be anything you do to quiet your mind–deep breathing, listening to relaxing music, praying, repeating affirmations, giving thanks, or practicing progressive muscle relaxation techniques. Meditation is a powerful tool to help your mind experience more satisfaction and joy.

​You can find many free meditation exercises online to help guide you. Keep experimenting until you find the style you like. Meditate regularly to retrain your brain away from chronic worry.

Exercise does wonders for stress and anxiety. For starters, it releases endorphins, which are happiness hormones. It helps boost your energy and makes you feel good. Also, it’s an excellent way to focus your mind away from worries–a brain break.

Talk about your worries. Trusted friends or family members make good starting points. However, if the same patterns of concerns persist, consider talking to a licensed therapist who can give you strategies to overcome the anxiety and create solutions.

You can bet you aren’t the only one with chronic worries. Turn to books to help you overcome them. Of course, fictional works can provide escapism, which is helpful. However, non-fiction works directly related to your concerns can provide you with valuable tips, information, and strategies. Consider growth mindset books or a building self-confidence guide to overcome chronic worrying.

Nothing helps you fight off the troubling thoughts plaguing you quite like turning your care and attention outward. Volunteering helps combat helplessness, fear, anxiety, stress, and anger. It causes you to socialize and connect meaningfully, benefiting your overall well-being.

If you’re prone to worry, you have your work cut out for you–it will take active work and not passive reading to break through this cognitive pattern that you’ve possibly had for years or decades. Telling yourself not to worry, beating yourself up about worrying, or listening to others tell you to stop worrying rarely works. Try the above actionable tips and consider some resources on building self-confidence to help you relieve yourself of chronic worry.