It’s happened to each one of us. An unspeakable worry that has compromised our emotions, thoughts and ability to perform normal tasks. It can hit you before a speech in your public speaking class, before talking to that pretty girl you’d like to ask on a date, or even in the form of fluttery butterflies right before a really exciting experience. Each person has an occasional bout of anxiety. In fact, anxiety can even express itself on our physical appearance, causing worry lines, headaches or twitchy habits.
Each person expresses their anxiety in a different way but each person experiences it. Worry and stress is something that afflicts every person, and it is often difficult to remember that in the midst of a sticky situation. It can be comforting to take a step back and remember that everything happens for a reason and that this too shall pass.
When stress overtakes your life it starts to sneak in and distract you from enjoying life. Eventually, a buildup of stress will cause you to miss out on hanging out with friends or having a positive outlook on the day. Worrying just distracts from the benefits of life and enjoying it to your full ability. The effects that worrying causes can even surpass the thing you are worrying about!
When worry is a constant burden in the back of our minds, we become resistant to change. We grind to a sudden halt and stop growing emotionally. When we screw up once, we begin to fear failure and refuse to take risks. In the human brain, each one of us has organs called dendrites. The dendrites in our brain fire synapses to complete tasks. When we feel uncomfortable or worried, the dendrites shrink and stop firing those synapses and prevent the growth of new brain cells.
We are literally killing brain cells while we are worrying! However, when we feel relaxed the dendrites expand, continue functioning properly and fire those synapses.
Now, the reason I hit you with all that science is because we don’t often consider the consequences of being a worry wort. Worrying can have massive consequences on our physical and emotional growth, causing issues from digestive problems to lockjaw. We are so afraid of messing up or doing something wrong, that we allow worry to take over our bodies. However, taking risks and possibly failing is how we grow! It is normal and healthy to fail. We cannot succeed in life or really anything without having the occasional plunder — and that is okay. After failure, comes success, every time.
There are so many beautiful reasons to live, and so many people are consumed with the feeling that they are not good enough or that they can’t do anything right, and that is simply not the case.
Each person is so valuable and life is an amazing thing to enjoy, it should not be overrun with minor worries. So find what you are passionate about, and use that to combat stress in your life. Maybe you like to work out or do yoga. Maybe you’re an avid reader or writer. Maybe you just like to hang out with friends! Whatever it is, find something you can use to remind yourself of how wonderful life is.
Life is so good, and it’s far too short to let worry control the wonderful things we have yet to experience.
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