November 2, 2016
Interview with Kathryn Tristan, author of the book Why Worry
Mike Carruthers: One reason people worry a lot is that at some level they think it helps.
Kathryn Tristan: I was raised to think if you worry enough about it it’s not going to happen. But the problem is that’s not really true.
Kathryn Tristan, author of the book Why Worry, says some worry is good it protects us but too much worry is a problem. How do you know if you’re over-worrying?
Take a look at your life am I having sleep problems? Do I go to sleep thinking about what I’m worried about? Do I wake up, the first thing that I do is start to worry? Am I over or under eating is another sign that you’re going down that path.
Your behavior may be a telltale sign.
Are you crabby a lot or on edge or easily angered? You know you look at all these things and how many of them add up? 1 or 2 you’re maybe getting into the yellow. But when you start getting a lot of things going on, sleep problems, obsessing over your worries, over or under eating and always crabby – you are getting into the red zone.
One strategy is to understand that if your mind is occupied with positive things you can’t really worry about something else.
What do we want out of life? What gives us joy? We probably haven’t thought about that for a while because we’re so busy getting by day-to-day. So what if we filled our minds with things that would be proactive. How can I help out with the world that I’m in? How can I be happier? How can I be more loving? Those are good positive ways to fill that void.
