How to Stop Worrying When There’s a Lot to Worry About

On this episode

In this episode of YANAF, we’re talking about worry and anxiety, particularly rational worry and anxiety. You know the phrases, don’t worry, it’ll probably never happen, or ‘It’s not like anyone’s going to die!’ – well what do we do when bad things may well happen, or people’s lives and livelihoods are genuinely at risk? How do we stop ourselves from becoming overwhelmed with anxiety then?

To explore this, we’re joined by Psychiatrist and therapist Dr. Caroline Walker to talk about how to stop ourselves from feeling overwhelmed with worry even in the midst of worrying times. Even though we might not be able to control what’s going on in the world, or even just our families or workplaces right now, one thing we do have more control over is how we deal with ourselves when we start feeling anxious or dwelling on unhelpful thoughts (even if they may be very rational). We can also stay focused on the present where everything is OK now.

We talk about how worry can be helpful when it spurs us into action but when it’s overplayed can cause us distress and actually make the bad things MORE likely to happen as we can’t think straight or perform as well when we are in our sympathetic fight flight or freeze zones. We share some simple techniques you can use to reduce your anxiety which you can use anywhere EVEN in difficult times.