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Best Practices to Manage Your Worry · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at WalkWest.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening, thank you for taking some time out of your day to spend here with me.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so today I want to talk a little bit about worry.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So those of you who've gotten to know me either through working with me or have been following some of my podcasts here or those that I've guested on, I am not shy at admitting certain things about myself, such as I do have perfectionist tendencies, uh, I am a recovering people pleaser, and one of the other things is I do worry.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: My dad has routinely said to me, don't sweat the small stuff, comedy.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and really what that what he's reminding me of is the fact that I don't need to worry about every little thing.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk a little bit about that today.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because the truth is none of us are worry-free, and honestly, we we we shouldn't really aim to be worry-free because sometimes worry, like for instance, if we're crossing a busy street, the worry about the traffic actually can keep us safe.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's natural to have some worries in life, but the non-stop excessive worrying can be the core cause of things like anxiety, depression, burnout, or ways we find ourselves numbing out with substances, or maybe um I've seen and worked with individuals who have disordered eating habits, and that can come from uh excessive worrying and overthinking.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: There are a wide range of factors that can cause worries.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, uncertainty is one of the main reasons that people feel worried.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: When we think about and and we taught just working with individuals, a lot of anxiety comes from the fear of the unknown.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: There's this need to control or know what's gonna happen.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And and I've mentioned this before, but there's definitely been research around just individuals and how much of our time is spent either in the there or then, and and 47% of our day can be attributed to either worrying about the past or ruminating on the past or worrying about the future.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So when we think about uh just worry in general, when we find ourselves consistently thinking about what's gonna happen and coming up with a plan, that's an indication that that could potentially lead to things like anxiety.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, also, if we're constantly ruminating on the past or worrying about what we said to somebody and how that's gonna affect them, that could also lead us to elements of depression as well as just negative thought patterns about ourselves because we're replaying things in our mind.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So when worry becomes overwhelming, it can actually start to impede your everyday life.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: It can actually affect your relationships as well.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because what happens is if you're spending all of that time worrying and you're in that state in that cycle of worry, you're not able to connect with those around you in a more authentic way.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And anxiety starts taking over, and it does affect your physical health as well as your mental health.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: And truth be told, it's actually exhausting.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I know that when I am stuck in a cycle of of worry, um, it after it just you kind of lift your head up and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm exhausted.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: But it does, it drains your energy and it breaks down all of your defenses and and stops you from being able to pursue the things that you actually would like to put your energy into.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you think about how much time you spend worrying in a given day and recognize as an observer, well, while I was spending all my energy worrying about A, B, and C, I wasn't able to move forward on some of the goals that I had set for myself that day.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And as I mentioned, it can absolutely wreak havoc on your physical health.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Those of us who spend so much time worrying, what we're really doing is increasing our stress levels, and that can lead to things like back pain, headaches, stomach aches, uh, and just physical uh situations such as muscle tension.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, you take that, and when you're dealing with those physical ailments, sometimes that leads to then lack of being able to sleep because now you're in pain and you're not able to get comfortable at night.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: So persistent worry can absolutely um be detrimental from a physical standpoint, but also it just increases the intrusive negative thoughts, it keeps you from being able to concentrate.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: We find that uh people are restless.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've had clients tell me numerous times that they feel restless and they're just not really sure what to do with themselves or what to focus on.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: It can uh increase things like your heart rate, um, as I mentioned, your blood pressure goes up.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it's important to pay attention to this, right?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: We we shouldn't just dismiss excessive worrying as like, oh, I'm just an overthinker.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I've definitely heard that before.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm just an overthinker.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you're an overthinker.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: And also if we take ownership of it and make small changes, we can we can help ourselves in the long run.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes it's important to just schedule some actual worry times.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is one tip that I heard a long time ago when I was starting out in my coaching practice, and I thought, hmm, that's really interesting.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: But there's if we actually schedule, um, I can't remember who it was, but there was definitely a uh another coach that I was um in in training with, and they had mentioned um a concept of seven at seven, which is I'm gonna give myself seven minutes at seven o'clock to worry and worry and think about all the things that I'm um that are that I'm ruminating on, rather than thinking about it during the day.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a worry comes up, that thought comes up, you name it, notice it, and say, Okay, I'm gonna focus on that at seven o'clock today.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Another um thing to to recognize though, if you do schedule it, is that when that worry time is over, it's important to move on.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: It it gives you the ability to say, okay, I've committed, I've given myself that seven minutes, and now the seven minutes is over.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: I have these one or two things that I'm gonna engage in that are meaningful to me, and I'm gonna move forward.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, meditation has can be another way that we can work through excessive worrying, just being able to train yourself to slow down, allow your body to relax, get present in the moment, and just allow.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the thing, I I want to be very clear.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: When I talk about meditation, I'm not saying turn off your thoughts because that's virtually impossible.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: But with meditation and building that practice, we can notice a thought and then let it go and come back to uh the present moment and concentrate some on just being here in that present moment.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And what we're doing when we do that is we are actually building this muscle that when we're going through our everyday, we can really start noticing thoughts, naming it, and then moving forward.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Meditation is a great help with that.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Breath work is huge.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: I actually hold breath work classes um usually at least once a month, and breath work has been a great way to release tension and what we're holding on to from an emotional standpoint.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And by just giving ourselves the ability to slow down and pay attention to our breath, we are able, and and and it's important that we're not just breathing shallow, but deep breathing.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it lowers our stress response and it allows us to reground and takes us from being in that state of overwhelm back into our window of tolerance.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's important to also talk about the things that are worrying you.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, a lot of times we will keep things to ourselves and we just think, well, either I'm being hypersensitive or nobody else cares, or it's not important.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's really important to talk about what's on your mind.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you're worrying about something, find the people that can support you.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Find the people that you feel safe with and talk through them so that you're not just continuing to play them on repeat in your own mind.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Journaling is a great way to work through some of what you're worrying about because you can write out not just the worry, but all of the other elements of it that are potentially replaying in your mind.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, gratitude.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a big believer in gratitude.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: I used to kind of not, I wasn't as much of a believer in it until I really engaged in my own gratitude practice, but research has just definitely shown that when we get into a a habit, a daily habit of practicing things that we're grateful for, we can actually shift the in those moments when worry comes in.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: We can have the thought of worry, but we also have developed the muscle around what's also going well for us.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't just get stuck on the worry, we're able to see the nuggets of good as well.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then movement and exercise can definitely help just because we're releasing some of that tension and can allow us sometimes as if we're all if we do exercise or we go on a walk or a run, we're able to sometimes just think through what it is that we're ruminating on.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's just important to remember that, you know, yes, as I said in the beginning, worry is a part of life, but overworrying, the constant worrying, can absolutely wreak havoc on your enjoyment of everyday life.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's important to take notice of it if you find yourself constantly worrying about things and recognize that that is something that can be shifted for the better.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to talk to me about this or anything else, feel free to book a time to speak with me at chatwithcomedy.com.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay well.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authentic me.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.