Why Do I Always Worry So Much?
Q I have so much to be grateful for – a husband I love very much, lovely grown-up children, a great teaching job and lots of friends. Yet there’s never a minute goes by I’m not worrying about something. If my husband gets out of breath, I’m sure he’ll have a heart attack. I worry my daughter will lose her job or my son will get attacked when he’s out. Then I feel guilty as I have nothing to worry about compared with people in real trouble all over the world. I’m a mess! A Worrying is something we all do and is a natural process, and while we might rationally know that worrying doesn’t change things and just causes us unnecessary stress, it doesn’t stop us from doing it!
However, when worry takes over our lives, as it appears to have done so with yours, then it stops being normal and becomes abnormal.
Excess worry makes us release adrenaline, a hormone designed to help us fight. So it increases our heart rate and increases muscle tension.
These effects are normal when we exercise, but excess adrenaline will also push up blood pressure and in the long term this isn’t good. It’s time to do something about it but how to tackle it?
When anxiety takes such a strong hold it will take some interventions to get you back in control. You say that all is well with your life and that’s a bonus. Talk to your GP about it and get some help. Usually this means talking it through with a psychologist to understand where it’s coming from and to develop mechanisms to cope with it.
The great thing is you now recognise that you’re over-reacting, and there is much help out there to calm your mind such as CDs in mindfulness, hypnotherapy, counselling – you are not alone. The world is for living, not worrying. Good luck!
We all worry about things, but when it takes over your life it causes unnecessary stress