Worry ruins our relationship with our self

Are you a worry wart? It doesn’t exactly bring a great picture to mind, does it? But it’s a good image of how anxiety can weigh on us if we aren’t careful. Worry can leave us like a dried up former version of ourselves, kind of – - warty, and who wants that?

Life Coach and board game designer Kathy Jacobson advises – worry doesn’t do us any favors and can actually make us sick. “We know when we worry about something it literally makes us feel bad – stomach aches, pains in the neck, usually there’s a tightening that happens,” describes Jacobson.

But, she reminds, the great thing about that emotional and physical tie is that it’s a great signal. If we stop for just a moment, and take a check of how our bodies feel, we can recognize the problem and start to do something about it.

When we worry about stuff, we’re focusing on something that just makes us feel crummy. You have the power to either choose to worry about that thing, or find something to think about that makes you feel good right now.

For instance, if you think about not having any money, it can start to take over all of your thoughts. Your neck feels tense and you might start getting a pit in your stomach. But take a minute and look out at the sky or a tree. It doesn’t cost a thing to enjoy that piece of nature. If you think about all the things you can enjoy that don’t take money, you can find a way to make yourself feel good right now – even though you still don’t have any money.

Sometimes we trick ourselves into believing that worry will help us reach our goals, but worry serves no purpose at all. It just steals our joy. It messes up our relationship with ourselves and with others – it takes us out of the stream of happiness that helps us stay connected to the life we were meant to live.

Do Tell: The Relationship Game was created to help people improve their relationships through social interaction. Connecting with others and doing something out of the normal can help realize that the things we spend time worrying about can really be something to laugh about.

That’s because most of the things we worry about never happen, and if we can find a way to laugh about the picture of ourselves as worry warts, then maybe we won’t spend so much time bent up and unhappy – disconnected from ourselves over an unnecessary emotion.

Choose today to stop your worry – step into the refreshing stream of joy instead.