Have you ever felt stressed, lost sleep, and couldn’t stop thinking about something that has yet to happen? If you did, you worried too much about the future.
When you worry about things that are yet to happen, you are losing your productivity for the day. Plus, your mood will be greatly affected if the things you worried about are negative.
For example, you worried about having not enough money to pay your credit cards outstanding or you worried if you may not earn enough money to pay for the bills by the end of the month. This type of worry will make you feel stressed and pressured.
Worry happens to all of us and it is absolutely normal to worry about things in the future. But the problem comes when you over-worried about something.
As human beings, we are wired to feel worried about our survival. In the Stone Age when our ancestors lived in caves because they worried about the saber-tooth tiger that lingered out there.
But in today’s world, we don’t have to worry that much about our survival anymore. However, the survival mechanism is still in us. Hence, many times, we created the worry and put ourselves in difficult situations that harm our health and wellbeing.
I love the movie series, Kung Fu Panda. There was a scene where Master Oogway told Po, who’s constantly worried about his future:
You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There is a saying, “Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”
Inspiring quote from Kung Fu Panda
So, what if you are constantly worrying about your future? What should you do to overcome the situation and ease the worrisome?
Here are a couple of great tips to help you stop worrying about the future and start living in the now…
1. Understand that worries can’t change anything
If you want to stop worrying about the future, the first thing you need to do is to understand that worry can’t help improving anything.
There is no point to keep yourself stuck in the situation and constantly worry and think about things that have yet to come true.
You don’t have to worry too much about the future because it is yet to happen. And the only way to gain back control for your life is to realize that the fact that you are worried about it and worrying can’t help much.
Once you are aware of your worries that create anxiety, you can then do something to reduce your worries and get rid of them.
You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. You can’t take charge of your life if you don’t know you are living in a worried life.
Hence, be aware of your thoughts and feelings. Once you discovered you are living in anxiety and worry too much about your future, practice living in the now…
2. Practice living in the now
This is also referred to as being mindfulness. Meaning, you are aware of your current situation or state of being conscious.
You don’t need to be a monk to practice living in the now or being mindful. What you need to do is to take note and be aware of your current state of being.
- What do you see?
- What you do hear?
- What do you feel?
- What do you smell?
- What are you doing at the moment?
These are some of the questions you need to be aware of to live in the now.
If you are drinking coffee, pay close attention to the smell and taste of the coffee. Don’t think about any other thing but focus and pay attention to drinking and enjoying the coffee. That’s being mindfulness. That’s living in the now.
If you are reading, feel the texture of the book, read the words, and imagine pictures created from the words you read into your mind. Be mindful of what you do at the moment.
This is how you practice mindfulness and how you can bring your attention from worrying about the future to the now.
You don’t want your mind to wander and think about the future that has yet to happen, instead, you want to bring your focus back to the now and pay attention to what you are doing.
3. Give yourself time to worry
Sometimes, no matter what we do, we still feel worried about the future and can’t seem to stop thinking about it. If this is happening to you, what you can do then is to give yourself time to worry.
Yes, you read that right. Schedule time to worry. For example, give yourself 5 or 10 minutes to worry.
And in these 10 minutes, you will do nothing but think about the future that you worried so much about.
After that 10 minutes, stop and get back to work. Just make sure you don’t overdo it. Set an alarm so that you know it is time to stop worrying.
I learned this technique from Hal Elrod, the author of the best-selling book, The Miracle Morning. In his book, Elrod explained his mentor, Jesse Levine, shared the 5-Minute Rule with him…
While in my hospital bed, I immediately became present to something that Jesse Levine, my first manager at Cutco and a true Miracle Maven, had taught me in any initial training. it was called “The Five-Minute Rule,” and it basically stated, “It’s okay to feel bad when something doesn’t go according to plan, but not for more than five minutes.” Jesse taught us to set a five-minute timer on our phones anytime we experienced a failure, a disappointment, or any other unwanted result and give ourselves five minutes to feel bad about it.
We could bitch, moan, cry, complain, vent, punch a wall – whatever we felt like doing – for five minutes. Those five minutes gave us the space to feel our emotions, but the time limit prevented us from dwelling on any given adversity for an extended, unnecessary, and unhealthy period of time. It kept us from falling into that emotional black hole where most people continue reliving negative emotions that cause them to feel bad.
Thus, the next time you are feeling negative or worry too much about your future, use the 5-Minute Rule.
Feel the worries, be negative, and express your emotions, but once the 5 minutes are over, get over it, and start focus on what matters most.
4. Express gratefulness
Worry tends to make you feel negative, but being grateful for everything you have in life creates the exact opposite feeling.
Therefore, you want to practice being grateful for everything that has happened to you and in your life. Gratitude practice is a powerful technique to put yourself in a positive state.
Besides, you can practice being grateful any time and anywhere you want.
What you can do is as simple as writing down 10 things that you are grateful for. They can be anything, from your cat to your phone, from the chair you are sitting on to the job that you may not like that much. Just write down 10 things that you are grateful for.
And then, go through the list slowly, and feel the positive energy flows through you.
For example, you write down you are grateful for your wife who makes breakfast for you each morning. Feel the feeling. Picture your wife making breakfast. It may not be the best or the most delicious breakfast, but you appreciate it. See the effort your wife puts into it. Take a deep breath and express your gratitude.
That’s how you get rid of your anxiety and worry, and replace them with gratefulness.
5. Go for exercise
Do you know that exercise is a great way to get rid of worries? Whenever you are feeling negative and worry too much about your future, take a walk.
It can be a 10- or 15-minutes’ walk, or you can hit the gym and sweat if you want to.
According to this article from Anxiety and Depression Association of America, exercise is considered vital for maintaining mental fitness and it can help reduce stress.
… regular exercise works as well as medication for some people to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the effects can be long-lasting. One vigorous exercise session can help alleviate symptoms for hours, and a regular schedule may significantly reduce them over time.
So, make exercise part of your daily life. The more you exercise, the more mentally fit you become.
6. Plan your future and take bite-sized steps
Your worry can’t improve the situation, the only way you can improve your life and the current situation you’re in is through planning and taking bite-sized steps.
You don’t have to do everything or believe that you need to change your life in an instant. It is about knowing what you want, going in the right direction, and taking baby steps.
Too often, many people worry about their future and feel powerless because they feel overwhelmed by what they want. They want success and they want to improve their lifestyles, and they want it overnight.
You know that success is created over time, not overnight. When you over-think about the results you want but are not seeing any significant progress in life, it makes you worry that the future you want isn’t coming true.
Hence, start with planning. Find out what kind of future you want to create, and then take small steps to reach it.
You can achieve anything you want, given that you know what it is and are willing to take small steps to get there.
I’m living in Malaysia and Thailand is to the north of Malaysia. So, if I want to go to Thailand, I just need to make sure I’m heading north and take small steps every day, eventually, I will get there.
It doesn’t matter how slowly I am, as long as I do not stop and keep making progress, eventually, I will reach there.
The same goes for everything you want in life. You don’t have to worry about the destination or if you are doing to get there.
As long as you make sure your direction is right and you are making progress, no matter how slow you are, you will get there.
Read: Why Start Small? The 5 Important Benefits of Starting Small
7. Reach out for help
You’re not living alone in this world. Sometimes, the best way to get rid of your constant worry is to reach out for help.
Talk to people who you know are supportive and encouraging. After you express your feelings, you will feel much better. You feel lighter and less burden.
Even better, you may discover that people are willing to help you when you reach out to them.
Getting the help you need doesn’t mean that you’re weak or needy, it is just how our society and community works. We are humans, and humans tend to live in herd and community.
Therefore, the next time you feel overwhelmed, worried about the future, and not sure what to do, reach out for help. Talk to people who you believe and help you.
Conclusion
If you are someone who constantly worries about the future, don’t worry, it’s normal. Just follow through the tips shared above and get your worries over.
And remember, you can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. You need to be aware of your worries in order to overcome them. So, tell me, which of the techniques above you find interesting?