May 25, 2020
Dear Friends:
I know that we have already spent a week looking at worry as a response to the stress we experience in our lives. However, there is another facet of worry that we need to address to help us see that worry is not only unhelpful, but that it is also harmful. Web.md (under “causes of stress”) talks about worry as a mechanism that is not just a reaction to stress but a cause of internal stress. It can also negatively transform our experience of the events occurring outside of ourselves. Web.md lists causes of internal stress as they relate to worry and I added a few of my own:
-Fear and uncertainty
-Unrealistic expectations
-Change
-Approval Seeking and avoiding disapproval
-Perfectionism
-A sense of a lack of control
-Avoidance
-Procrastination
I am sure that the list could go on and on, and what might cause an internal experience of stress in one person might not in another person. Below, I have given you a chart to explore how any of these listed items might cause you stress by an internally driven response to life (see “Tips” for help in copying the below chart).
Which of the above did you see as most troublesome for you?
What impact do these have on your relationships?
WHY SO MUCH THOUGHT ABOUT WORRY?
Worry isn’t something that just happens to you. Worry is a thought process that was learned somewhere through your journey in life and has probably become a default setting, a habitual way of thinking and processing life. It’s a very powerful force in our lives as these worry thoughts have a negative impact on our emotions. I say that worry is like eating. If “you are what you eat”, and you have spent several days eating greasy pizza, chips, cake, donuts, etc., how will you feel? Most people would say, “awful!”. Well, you are what you think as well, so if you spend most of your days thinking negative thoughts of worry, then the emotional outcome will be negative as well. If we expand the earlier chart it would look like this:
“How much am I stressing myself?”
Anxiety is an emotion and is a very stressful way of experiencing life. And as we have learned, worry (as a reaction to stress) causes and increases this anxiety and we begin to see how we are creating an internal source of stress by our own doing. We have to become aware that we are worrying in order to make a change in our self-imposed anxiety. Romans 12:2 states, “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Part of this journey is to transform our thinking and we have begun this in today’s blog by becoming aware of worry as a precursor to an internal source of stress through the experience of anxiety. And the big question is, “How much am I stressing myself?”
Questions to ponder about anxiety:
How prevalent is anxiety in my life (how often do I feel anxious)? Has this changed since Covid19 or have I always been anxious to some degree?
What are indicators to me that I am anxious?
What have I been worrying about that would be causing me anxiety?
May you find great insight this week into your relationship with worry as a means of stressing yourself!
Blessings to you in your journey toward freedom,
Shari