“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.”- Hans Selye
We are all subject to worrying over the things in life that are too big for us to control. Many of us often worry about the future, our jobs, money, the state of the world, and how we’re going to keep moving forward. Some things can be easily dealt with: we can put a financial plan in place in case of money issues, and we can make plans in case we lose our jobs.
But for other things, we just can’t control them. The way the future is going to look, for example, or our relationships with other people. We can only control ourselves, and any attempt to control things outside of our control often leads to issues with our own minds and bodies.
5 Reasons To Stop Stressing About Things You Can’T Control
1. Stress Worsens Your Health
Worrying too much about things that you can’t control will, inevitably, stress you out. After all, all that worry isn’t going anywhere. There’s nothing productive that you can do to let it out. So, it tends to manifest into stress. Stress is bad for your health, both mentally and physically. Stress is known to weaken your immune system, which can cause you to fall ill easier.
Dr. Joseph Mercola says, “Stress plays a major role in your immune system, and can impact your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, brain chemistry, blood sugar levels, and hormonal balance, for instance. It can even “break” your heart, and is increasingly being viewed as a cardiovascular risk marker.”
So, when you learn to let go of all your stress and worrying, you’ll be able to live a healthier life.
2. Life Is Short
For a lot of people, worrying can take up all of your attention span. You may think that you’re balancing everything just fine, but it comes to a point where that’s just not happening anymore. Worrying too much can cause you to miss out on the things that are going on around you.
You’re too busy worrying about the bad things rather than allowing yourself to live in the moment and experience all of the good things that this world has to offer. When you stop worrying, you’ll be able to experience life to the fullest, in all of the best ways.
If it helps, here’s what Kai Tracid sang about in his song Life is Too Short, “Life is too short, don’t stress every day, leave your worries behind, go out and play, life is too short, grasp it in your hand, a natural miracle, have fun while you can…” Couldn’t agree more!
3. You Won’T Be Able To Focus On What You Can Control
With all of your attention being devoted to all of the things in your life that you can’t control, you’ll be more likely to let the things you can control fall by the wayside. This is only going to cause you more stress as you struggle to play catch up – when all you have to do is stay focused on the things that you can control!
When you focus on the things that are under your control, you’ll feel a lot less stressed out and better prepared for whatever life has to throw at you and “Before you know it, you’ll be living your best life ever!” says entrepreneur Catherine Goldberg.
4. Your Mental Health Will Suffer
Do you ever find that once you start worrying about one thing, it tends to snowball into an apocalyptic daydream that has your heart racing and your brain feeling like it’s about to crawl out of your skull? Well, that’s what worrying will do to you! When you spend too much time worrying about the things that you can’t control, your mental health will also suffer.
Psychiatrist Dr. Justin Ross says, “When we’re stressed, we tend to shine a spotlight on the stressor itself, or on our reaction to that stressor, which only tends to magnify the response.”
You may find that you get anxiety much easier than you used to, or much easier than the people around you. You can also develop depression from spending so much time thinking about the things that are beyond your control. Do your mental health a favor and let some things go.
5. You Become A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
If you become so terrified and worried over messing up at work, you may find that your ability to perform and your concentration will drop drastically … leading to you messing up at work! The more you focus on the bad things, the more likely you’ll be too stressed out and anxious to make the good things in your life happen.
Instead, focus on what you can do. Trust yourself to be competent at your job, and trust yourself to be able to handle any issues that come your way. Letting yourself wallow in anxiety over things that you can’t control will only make it harder for you to handle them when they do happen.
Final thoughts
It’s natural to worry sometimes. We all do it! And we all worry about things that are out of our control. The important thing to know is when to stop worrying, and why it’s important that we worry less. With all of the issues on our mind, body and life that stress can cause, it’s important to know when to let it roll with the punches, and when the appropriate time to worry is.
