Tell Your Worries to Flock-Off

Worries flock together like birds.

It starts with just one worry flapping its wings and squawking in your head, but it can quickly lead to other worst-case-what-ifs joining in. Soon you have an entire aviary of anxiety housed in your head.

The thing about birds (and worries) is that any sort of quick movement toward them will cause them to take flight. Get your worries to “flock-off” by taking quick action to resolve the issues at the root of your stress.

Here are a few quick actions you can take to tell your worries to “flock-off”:

• Make a decision
  Many worries come from a fear of making the wrong decision, and as a result more stress comes from thinking about the decision than from the actual decision itself. Given the choice to between two actions — take one. Right or wrong, left or right, up or down — any decision is better than the stress caused by no decision.
• Think about solutions not problems
  The what-if-worries are the worst. What if I’m wrong, what it I lose my job, what if I get sick, etc. Shift your brain to think about the solutions to those problems and your worry level goes way down. What’s my next step if it turns out I am wrong, I’m going to update my resume and reconnect with my personal network in case my job is eliminated, I’m scheduling a flu shot this week so that I don’t get sick this winter.
• Don’t give yourself time to worry
  Get busy! You’ve got work to do, walks to take, bikes to ride, games to play.  Give your brain something else to focus on instead of allowing it to wallow in worry.
• Work on your attitude daily
  The best defense is a good offense. Worry will have a hard time breaking into a mind that’s already strong and positive. Read a page or two every morning from a book on building a better attitude. Stop listening to the radio on your way to work. The music is lame and the news breaks just talk about how bad traffic is (you already know traffic is bad… you’re sitting in it!) Listen to positive CDs on the way to work instead.  They will strengthen your attitude, improve your day, and frighten away all those bad little birdies.