Does worrying have a purpose?

Oftentimes, I wish I never had anxiety or worry because I found it affected the way I was living my life. I began acting out obsessive-compulsive rituals that would “protect” me from all my worst-case scenarios I had created in my mind. I was definitely my own worst enemy.

Obviously, worrying is no fun…but it must have a purpose, right?

It seems like the society we live in today teaches us to have fears and to be afraid. Everything we see on the news is tragic or warns us of what we must avoid, rather than promote the good. It would be a beautiful world if we could shine a light on the generous acts of our fellow neighbors, but instead media emphasizes and focuses on the, for lack of a better word, scariness that is taking place. It makes you wonder if there is something sinister going on behind the scenes, but I can save that for another post.

Coping with the stress of fears and anxiety can be difficult and seem impossible. In my journey, it has been important to accept that this is a part of who I am, as a way of normalizing the behavior.

And we should normalize it.

Worrying’s purpose is to remind us of what not to forget so we don’t make a mistake. But it’s the stress that consumes our mind when we can’t think of anything else, when it becomes a problem. In order to combat the fear and anxiety, I believe we need to become at peace with where we are in life. Acceptance of what we can and cannot change. Try to get to the root of what are we really afraid of and heal those wounds. Less comparing ourselves to others and more loving our unique quirks.

The more we accept ourselves, the more accepting those around us will be. Talking with a close friend about your fears will help reduce the effect they have over you. We need to take our power back and put things into perspective, and that is what openly talking to someone else does. Feelings of guilt or shame are common, but you are not alone and the more we can talk about it, the better things will get! Even just writing this blog post has been therapeutic, so I am also recommending journaling through the fears :-)

How do you cope with your anxiety and worries?