Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.
This is how every brain works. It thinks over worst-case scenarios, like an anxious new parent. It's just trying to keep us safe and usually does a great job at it. That same vigilant hardwiring also makes it too easy to worry about the wrong things. It clouds our thinking with fear of outcomes that will never come to pass. Learning how to better separate the good worry, which protects us, from the useless worry, which harms us, is a vital life skill.
Consider the following simple exercise to increase your insight into how much you worry needlessly. It's an experiment I did for years with the goal of better identifying and reducing my "rocking chair" fretting while better harnessing the useful kind of worry.
Begin by writing down all the major things you're currently worried about. It's not pleasant to ruminate on them, but the fact is that your brain is constantly thinking about them anyway. Just because a worry is subconscious doesn't shield you from
its negative effects. I suggest two rules for making the list. First, try to make the time frame for whether they will happen within just six months. That limits you to concrete and quantifiable worries. Limit your worries to those outcomes resolved in the next 180 days.
Second, keep the number at 10. If you have more than that, pick the biggest ones. If you have fewer than 10, good for you, but challenge yourself to go deeper and find other worries of which you may be less aware.
Some of your 10 worries will be big, others small or even trivial. Some you may feel you have no control over while some you do. Don't worry about their seriousness or ranking them; just capture what's causing you any anticipatory fear. By clearing your mind of needless worry, you can home in on the real concerns you might be able to stop. And even if you can't stop them, there's value in occupying your mind with action over fear.
Choose the best title or heading for the passage.
AWorrying Makes Me Feel Alive
BWorrying is Always Good
CNo Need to Worry
DWhy No Worry At All?
why no worry at all? is better no?