Stop Worrying

How to Stop Worrying

Self-Help Strategies for Anxiety Relief

Worrying can be helpful when it spurs you to take action and solve a problem. But if you’re preoccupied with “what ifs” and worst-case scenarios, worry becomes a problem. Unrelenting doubts and fears can be paralyzing. They can sap your emotional energy, send your anxiety levels soaring, and interfere with your daily life. But chronic worrying is a mental habit that can be broken. You can train your brain to stay calm and look at life from a more positive perspective.

Why is it so hard to stop worrying?

Constant worrying takes a heavy toll. It keeps you up at night and makes you tense and edgy during the day. You hate feeling like a nervous wreck. So why is it so difficult to stop worrying?
For most chronic worriers, the anxious thoughts are fueled by the beliefs—both negative and positive—they hold about worrying.
On the negative side, you may believe that your constant worrying is harmful, that it’s going to drive you crazy or affect your physical health. Or you may worry that you’re going to lose all control over your worrying—that it will take over and never stop.
On the positive side, you may believe that your worrying helps you avoid bad things, prevents problems, prepares you for the worst, or leads to solutions.
Negative beliefs, or worrying about worrying, add to your anxiety and keep worry going. But positive beliefs about worrying can be just as damaging. It’s tough to break the worry habit if you believe that your worrying protects you. In order to stop worry and anxiety for good, you must give up your belief that worrying serves a positive purpose. Once you realize that worrying is the problem, not the solution, you can regain control of your worried mind.

Why you keep worrying

You have mixed feelings about your worries. On one hand, your worries are bothering you—you can't sleep, and you can't get these pessimistic thoughts out of your head. But there is a way that these worries make sense to you. For example, you think:

• Maybe I'll find a solution.
• I don't want to overlook anything.
• If I keep thinking a little longer, maybe I'll figure it out.
• I don't want to be surprised.
• I want to be responsible.

You have a hard time giving up on your worries because, in a sense, your worries have been working for you.
Source: The Worry Cure: Seven Steps to Stop Worry from Stopping You by Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D.

Worry and anxiety self-help tip #1: Create a worry period

It’s tough to be productive in your daily life when anxiety and worry are dominating your thoughts. But what can you do? If you’re like many chronic worriers, your anxious thoughts feel uncontrollable. You’ve tried lots of things, from distracting yourself, reasoning with your worries, and trying to think positive, but nothing seems to work.

Why trying to stop anxious thoughts doesn’t work

Telling yourself to stop worrying doesn’t work—at least not for long. You can distract yourself or suppress anxious thoughts for a moment, but you can’t banish them for good. In fact, trying to do so often makes them stronger and more persistent.
You can test this out for yourself. Close your eyes and picture a pink elephant. Once you can see the pink elephant in your mind, stop thinking about it. Whatever you do, for the next five minutes, don’t think about pink elephants!
How did you do? Did thoughts of pink elephants keep popping in your brain?
“Thought stopping” backfires because it forces you to pay extra attention to the very thought you want to avoid. You always have to be watching for it, and this very emphasis makes it seem even more important.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to control your worry. You just need to try a different approach. This is where the strategy of postponing worrying comes in. Rather than trying to stop or get rid of an anxious thought, give yourself permission to have it, but put off thinking any more about it until later.

Learning to postpone worrying:

1. Create a “worry period.” Choose a set time and place for worrying. It should be the same every day (e.g. in the living room from 5:00 to 5:20 p.m.) and early enough that it won’t make you anxious right before bedtime. During your worry period, you’re allowed to worry about whatever’s on your mind. The rest of the day, however, is a worry-free zone.
2. Postpone your worry. If an anxious thought or worry comes into your head during the day, make a brief note of it on paper and postpone it to your worry period. Remind yourself that you’ll have time to think about it later, so there’s no need to worry about it right now. Save it for later and continue to go about your day.
3. Go over your “worry list” during the worry period. Reflect on the worries you wrote down during the day. If the thoughts are still bothering you, allow yourself to worry about them, but only for the amount of time you’ve specified for your worry period. If the worries don’t seem important any more, cut your worry period short and enjoy the rest of your day.

Postponing worrying is effective because it breaks the habit of dwelling on worries in the present moment. Yet there’s no struggle to suppress the thought or judge it. You simply save it for later. As you develop the ability to postpone your anxious thoughts, you’ll start to realize that you have more control over your worrying than you think.

Worry and anxiety self-help tip #2: Ask yourself if the problem is solvable

Research shows that while you’re worrying, you temporarily feel less anxious. Running over the problem in your head distracts you from your emotions and makes you feel like you’re getting something accomplished. But worrying and problem solving are two very different things.
Problem solving involves evaluating a situation, coming up with concrete steps for dealing with it, and then putting the plan into action. Worrying, on the other hand, rarely leads to solutions. No matter how much time you spend dwelling on worst-case scenarios, you’re no more prepared to deal with them should they actually happen.

Distinguish between solvable and unsolvable worries

If a worry pops into your head, start by asking yourself whether the problem is something you can actually solve. The following questions can help:

• Is the problem something you’re currently facing, rather than an imaginary what-if?
• If the problem is an imaginary what-if, how likely is it to happen? Is your concern realistic?
• Can you do something about the problem or prepare for it, or is it out of your control?

Productive, solvable worries are those you can take action on right away. For example, if you’re worried about your bills, you could call your creditors to see about flexible payment options. Unproductive, unsolvable worries are those for which there is no corresponding action. “What if I get cancer someday?” or “What if my kid gets into an accident?”
If the worry is solvable, start brainstorming. Make a list of all the possible solutions you can think of. Try not to get too hung up on finding the perfect solution. Focus on the things you have the power to change, rather than the circumstances or realities beyond your control. After you’ve evaluated your options, make a plan of action. Once you have a plan and start doing something about the problem, you’ll feel much less worried.

Dealing with unsolvable worries

But what if the worry isn’t something you can solve? If you’re a chronic worrier, the vast majority of your anxious thoughts probably fall in this camp. In such cases, it’s important to tune into your emotions.
As previously mentioned, worrying helps you avoid unpleasant emotions. Worrying keeps you in your head, thinking about how to solve problems rather than allowing yourself to feel the underlying emotions. But you can’t worry your emotions away. While you’re worrying, your feelings are temporarily suppressed, but as soon as you stop, the tension and anxiety bounces back. And then, you start worrying about your feelings, “What’s wrong with me? I shouldn’t feel this way!”
The only way out of this vicious cycle is by learning to embrace your feelings. This may seem scary at first because of negative beliefs you have about emotions. For example, you may believe that you should always be rational and in control, that your feelings should always make sense, or that you shouldn’t feel certain emotions, such as fear or anger.
The truth is that emotions—like life—are messy. They don’t always make sense and they’re not always pleasant. But as long as you can accept your feelings as part of being human, you’ll be able to experience them without becoming overwhelmed and learn how to use them to your advantage. The following tips will help you find a better balance between your intellect and your emotions.

Worry and anxiety self-help tip #3: Accept uncertainty

The inability to tolerate uncertainty plays a huge role in anxiety and worry. Chronic worriers can’t stand doubt or unpredictability. They need to know with 100 percent certainty what’s going to happen. Worrying is seen as a way to predict what the future has in store—a way to prevent unpleasant surprises and control the outcome. The problem is, it doesn’t work.
Thinking about all the things that could go wrong doesn’t make life any more predictable. You may feel safer when you’re worrying, but it’s just an illusion. Focusing on worst-case scenarios won’t keep bad things from happening. It will only keep you from enjoying the good things you have in the present. So if you want to stop worrying, start by tackling your need for certainty and immediate answers.

Challenging intolerance of uncertainty: The key to anxiety relief

Ask yourself the following questions and write down your responses. See if you can come to an understanding of the disadvantages and problems of being intolerant of uncertainty.

• Is it possible to be certain about everything in life?
• What are the advantages of requiring certainty, versus the disadvantages? Or, how is needing certainty in life helpful and unhelpful?
• Do you tend to predict bad things will happen just because they are uncertain? Is this a reasonable thing to do? What is the likelihood of positive or neutral outcomes?
• Is it possible to live with the small chance that something negative may happen, given its likelihood is very low?

Adapted from: Accepting Uncertainty, Centre for Clinical Interventions

Worry and anxiety self-help tip #4: Challenge anxious thoughts

If you suffer from chronic anxiety and worries, chances are you look at the world in ways that make it seem more dangerous than it really is. For example, you may overestimate the possibility that things will turn out badly, jump immediately to worst-case scenarios, or treat every negative thought as if it were fact. You may also discredit your own ability to handle life’s problems, assuming you’ll fall apart at the first sign of trouble. These irrational, pessimistic attitudes are known as cognitive distortions.
Although cognitive distortions aren’t based on reality, they’re not easy to give up. Often, they’re part of a lifelong pattern of thinking that’s become so automatic you’re not even completely aware of it. In order to break these bad thinking habits and stop the worry and anxiety they bring, you must retrain your brain.
Start by identifying the frightening thought, being as detailed as possible about what scares or worries you. Then, instead of viewing your thoughts as facts, treat them as hypotheses you’re testing out. As you examine and challenge your worries and fears, you’ll develop a more balanced perspective.

Stop worry by questioning the worried thought:

• What’s the evidence that the thought is true? That it’s not true?
• Is there a more positive, realistic way of looking at the situation?
• What’s the probability that what I’m scared of will actually happen?
• If the probability is low, what are some more likely outcomes?
• Is the thought helpful? How will worrying about it help me and how will it hurt me?
• What would I say to a friend who had this worry?

Cognitive Distortions that Add to Anxiety, Worry, and Stress
All-or-nothing thinking – Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground. “If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”
Overgeneralization – Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever. “I didn’t get hired for the job. I’ll never get any job.”
The mental filter – Focusing on the negatives while filtering out all the positives. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right.
Diminishing the positive – Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count. “I did well on the presentation, but that was just dumb luck.”
Jumping to conclusions – Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader, “I can tell she secretly hates me.” Or a fortune teller, “I just know something terrible is going to happen.”
Catastrophizing – Expecting the worst-case scenario to happen. “The pilot said we’re in for some turbulence. The plane’s going to crash!”
Emotional reasoning – Believing that the way you feel reflects reality. “I feel frightened right now. That must mean I’m in real physical danger.”
'Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’ – Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do and beating yourself up if you break any of the rules
Labeling – Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings. “I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”
Personalization – Assuming responsibility for things that are outside your control. “It’s my fault my son got in an accident. I should have warned him to drive carefully in the rain.”

Worry and anxiety self-help tip # 5: Be aware of how others affect you

How you feel is affected by the company you keep, whether you’re aware of it or not. Studies show that emotions are contagious. We quickly “catch” moods from other people—even from strangers who never speak a word (e.g. the terrified woman sitting by you on the plane; the fuming man in the checkout line). The people you spend a lot of time with have an even greater impact on your mental state.

• Keep a worry diary. You may not be aware of how people or situations are affecting you. Maybe this is the way it’s always been in your family, or you’ve been dealing with the stress so long that it feels normal. You may want to keep a worry diary for a week or so. Every time you start to worry, jot down the thought and what triggered it. Over time, you’ll start to see patterns.
• Spend less time with people who make you anxious. Is there someone in your life who drags you down or always seems to leave you feeling stressed? Think about cutting back on the time you spend with that person or establish healthier relationship boundaries. For example, you might set certain topics off-limits, if you know that talking about them with that person makes you anxious.
• Choose your confidantes carefully. Know who to talk to about situations that make you anxious. Some people will help you gain perspective, while others will feed into your worries, doubts, and fears.

Worry and anxiety self-help tip #6: Practice mindfulness

Worrying is usually focused on the future—on what might happen and what you’ll do about it. The centuries-old practice of mindfulness can help you break free of your worries by bringing your attention back to the present. In contrast to the previous techniques of challenging your anxious thoughts or postponing them to a worry period, this strategy is based on observing and then letting them go. Together, they can help you identify where your thinking is causing problems, while helping you get in touch with your emotions.

• Acknowledge and observe your anxious thoughts and feelings. Don’t try to ignore, fight, or control them like you usually would. Instead, simply observe them as if from an outsider’s perspective, without reacting or judging.
• Let your worries go. Notice that when you don’t try to control the anxious thoughts that pop up, they soon pass, like clouds moving across the sky. It’s only when you engage your worries that you get stuck.
• Stay focused on the present. Pay attention to the way your body feels, the rhythm of your breathing, your ever-changing emotions, and the thoughts that drift across your mind. If you find yourself getting stuck on a particular thought, bring your attention back to the present moment.

Using mindfulness meditation to stay focused on the present is a simple concept, but it takes practice to reap the benefits. At first, you’ll probably find that your mind keeps wandering back to your worries. Try not to get frustrated. Each time you draw your focus back to the present, you’re reinforcing a new mental habit that will help you break free of the negative worry cycle.
Source:http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/how-to-stop-worrying.htm  

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Method 1 of 2: Reducing Sources of Worry

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   Reduce your collection. Despite the fact that today's technology is smaller and more useful than ever, we all seem to end up surrounded by stuff we no longer use or care about. It can seem like a pain to take the time and trouble to get rid of it, but you'll be glad you did once the task is finished.
   • Get rid of everything you haven't used in a year or more, unless it was either terribly expensive or a family heirloom. Have a garage sale, use eBay, or simply donate your extra dishes, clothes, toys, books, movies, games, and other items to a charity.
     • Expensive and/or heirloom items you haven't used in a long time should be gently boxed up and stored in an attic, a basement, a garage, or even a rarely-used bedroom closet.
    
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   Assign space. One of the most common prescriptions psychologists give for curing insomnia is to set aside the bedroom for sex and sleeping only. By creating a dedicated, assigned space for specific activities, you convince your brain to engage in those activities whenever you enter that space. Take this method to heart as much as your space allows:
   • Remove TVs, desks, computers, and other such distractions from the bedroom. Store clothes and books there instead. Only spend time in the bedroom when you're changing clothes, grabbing a book, going to sleep, or getting it on. Don't read in bed.
   • Clean the clutter off of your dining room/breakfast nook table. If you don't have a dining room or a breakfast nook, but you do have a table, clean it up. Only use the table for eating and paperwork (bills, studying, writing, and so on). Make a commitment to clearing your dishes after every meal.
   • Maintain your kitchen. It's rare that you'll ever make so many dishes in a single day that you can't get them all washed within 30 minutes in the evening. Clean up every day so you can continue to use the kitchen for cooking and not have to worry about the mess.
   • Put time-consuming activities in an office or the living room. Keep computers, TVs, video game consoles, and other such activity items in general areas. Train your brain to associate these areas with leisure activities and hobbies. You'll be able to get things done in the other, utilitarian areas of the house with much greater efficiency.
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   Set a budget. One of the simplest and most effective steps you can take to reduce worry caused by your complex life is to budget your expenses. There's nothing mysterious or difficult about it:
   • Track your expenditures for a week or two. Don't worry about controlling it yet; just spend as you normally do. You can keep track on your phone or with a pad of paper.
   • Divide up your expenditures according to general type of purchase. For example, many typical budgets have categories for gas, food, entertainment, and impulse buys. Take each category and multiply it so you have a monthly spending estimate.
   • Add another category for bill payments, and yet another for savings (if you're saving money). That's your budget. Try your best to stick to it in order to avoid having to worry about how much money you can afford to spend in one place or another.
     • Your budget will also be useful in helping you make changes to save more money or purchase less in a given category. Just lower the amount in one category, and raise it in whichever other one you like. Stick to that budget to effect the change.
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   Organize your time. You can set a budget for your time just as you can set a budget for your money. Since you're trying to reduce worry rather than increase it, go into this process with a focus on maximizing your personal time, rather than cramming as much as you can into each day.
   • Set a sleep schedule. Stick to it, even on weekends. Give yourself a one-hour target window for bedtime in the evening, and set a strict time to get up in the morning. Be sure that the space between your bedtime and the start of your day gives you roughly an hour more than the amount of sleep you actually need, so you won't lay down and start worrying about whether or not you'll fall asleep on time.
   • Take care of tasks at the same time every day. Plan time for daily hygiene, commuting, work, shopping, eating, and chores. Add in time for anything else you do most days, such as homework, exercise, or an active hobby. Put them in a specific order that works for you. All the time left over is your free time, to use for relaxation or whatever else you want.
     • To maximize your free time, try to combine trips outside the home. For example, you might plan to go shopping on your way home from work, to save the extra trip.
     • For many people, an irregular work schedule makes this kind of budgeting difficult, but you can still plan to work around your schedule in the same order every day, and just shuffle the times.
   • Consider canceling TV service. It's a drastic step for some people, but TV's scheduled programming can disrupt an otherwise-adequate daily schedule. Most people find that they don't miss TV service as much as they thought they would after a few days without it. Invest in a paid video streaming service instead, so that you can watch TV shows when it's convenient for you.
     • DVR sets that record shows for you to watch later are also a viable option if you can't stand the thought of waiting 8 months to see the new season of your favorite show, but be sure to resist the temptation to turn on the TV just because it's there. Once you start watching, you typically spend more time than you'd intended to, which cramps the rest of your day and makes you feel rushed.
     • Reduced Internet usage is also a good idea if you can manage it, but since most people also use the Internet for practical daily business, this can be much more difficult. Start with TV and see how that works out first.
   • Budget flexibly. Different days call for different approaches. Maybe you eat take-out every Monday night, or have a standing date with friends on Saturday afternoon. Be cognizant of that fact and mentally double-check your basic plan every morning. Add time to take care of whatever you need to take care of that day, with a little flex room on either side.

Method 2 of 2: Taking Charge of Your Mind

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   Cultivate empty moments. It's easy to fill every waking moment of your free time with smartphone apps, social media browsing, TV, books, hobbies, and more, but it isn't always a good idea. Sometimes what you need isn't a distraction, it's a moment to yourself. There isn't a lot of free time in the day, for most people, but it isn't hard to find a couple of five-minute windows where you can drop everything and be alone with your thoughts.
   • Use your empty time to think about whatever you want, or just lay back and look at the patterns on your ceiling or the leaves on a tree near your window. Don't fill it with anything that requires your attention to be enjoyed, such as a book or a smartphone.
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   Take time to clear your head. Even the most overworked adult can find half an hour once a week to set aside for quiet meditation and reflection. Meditation is a powerful technique for organizing your thoughts and feelings, and all it requires is a quiet spot without many distractions. Sit comfortably and focus on your breathing until the rest of your thoughts become quiet. That way, you can go over them without feeling overwhelmed by them.
   • This is also a great time to set weekly goals or remind yourself of tasks that need to be completed soon, such as shopping trips and yard work. Feel free to keep a pad of paper and a pen or pencil close at hand when you meditate, so you can list and organize everything that comes up. You can use your notes to help guide the week ahead, reducing chaos.
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   Be rational. Often, people worry about things they have limited control over, such as whether or not they got a new job (after an interview) or what a new acquaintance really thought of them. These worries are hard to help completely, even though it's obvious that worrying won't change their outcomes. However, that doesn't mean you can't do your best to remind yourself not to worry. Make a conscious effort to focus your attention elsewhere, and let events take their course as best you can.
   • Try to respect yourself. If something doesn't work out the way you'd hoped, review the course of events in your head and try to focus on what you did right or how hard you tried, rather than “where you messed up.” Chances are, the results had little to do with your actions, and more to do with those of others. If you endlessly self-criticize, you'll only worry more the next time a similar situation comes up (and be more likely to make a nervous mistake). Believe that you did your best, and that you'll do your best next time as well. There's no good reason to fret over things that have already come and gone.
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   Take a plunge. A lot of the time, your worries will revolve around whether or not you can successfully do something. Despite some things being largely up to the winds of chance (as mentioned above), you can compensate nicely by undertaking other endeavors on your own. Pick anything you've always wanted to do, want to do better, or want to start doing again, and give it a shot.
   • Remember, there's nothing to lose from trying something for your own enjoyment. Therefore, there's no good reason to worry about how well you'll do. Just compete against yourself and do your best not to worry what others might think.
   • Keep trying and working at things that interest you. You'll succeed more often than you might think, and begin to worry a lot less as you realize that 75% of success is just getting out there and trying. People who seem successful and happy are people just like you, except that they never let their worries stop them from giving things another shot.
   • The things you try don't have to be flashy, or significant to anyone except you. You could take up a new hobby, such as knitting or martial arts, or you could just make a commitment to smile more often at work. The goals you set are yours to attempt and achieve. Pursue anything you've ever wanted to pursue. You'll be delighted with the results more often than not.
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   Live in the moment. Don't obsess about the future; instead, focus on living in the present. It's fine to plan ahead sensibly and set goals, but the important thing is living your life as it is now, and not worry about what is already past or what the distant future might hold.
   • Practice self-acceptance. As mentioned previously, excessive self-criticism is a major source of worry. A part of us listens to what we say about ourselves, whether we want it to or not. If you're always down on yourself, you won't be able to enjoy anything. Telling yourself you'll do better in the future is one thing; refusing to feel proud of yourself and happy with the steps you've taken to make your life enjoyable right now is a different beast.
   • Remember that people are essentially self-centered. When you make an embarrassing mistake or scene, it can cause all your worries to spring back to life with a vengeance, making you half-catatonic with fear and self-doubt. The fact is, everybody has such gaffes now and again, and most people aside from the person who slipped up either forget about it completely or disregard it soon thereafter. Nobody is obsessively watching your every move; in fact, most people won't even remember what you said to them a month ago unless you say it to them again. There's no reason to carry shame and embarrassment with you after the fact.
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   Count your blessings. Like most old adages and proverbs, this one gets repeated ad infinitum because it's actually very wise advice. Set aside your resistance to cliché for a moment and think about all the advantages you have. You're reading this article on the Internet, which means you either have or can borrow Internet access. It also means you can read, which is something not everybody can do. All but the most hopeless and pitiable lives have an abundance of good in them. Find yours, and remind yourself to be grateful for it every day.
   • Put your life in context. If you live in a building with a roof and walls, be grateful for that instead of worrying that it's too humble or too run-down. If you don't have a home, be grateful for the clothes on your back. If you live somewhere with harsh weather, be grateful that it sometimes passes and becomes pleasant. Be grateful that you can think for yourself, comprehend beauty, and dream of better things.
     • No matter your situation, if you're reading this article, you can find things to appreciate about your life. Think of them whenever you find yourself sitting and worrying instead of acting and enjoying life.
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   Limit your responsibilities. There are some people who worry because they are trying to take care of everyone and everything around them, or because they read about problems elsewhere in the world and feel as though they are never doing enough to help. It's good to be supportive and charitable, but taking it too far will turn you into a used-up mess of nerves and frustration. Make a conscious effort to remind yourself that other people, like you, are more capable than they realize, and that you don't always need to be there for everyone at every turn.
   • People who have everything taken care of for them, such as coddled children, end up ill-equipped to function in the adult world, which means that sometimes not helping is actually the best help you can give.
   • It's also important to remind yourself that others care just as much as you do about social issues and charitable causes. It's okay to let them share the burden of responsibility; often it's the only way to make it bearable. This doesn't mean you should stop caring; rather, it means you should take pride in what you do and stop worrying that it isn't good enough. It is.
   • Set a limit for yourself. This could be a limit to the amount of time you spend helping others, a limit to the money you spend to support them, or just a limit to how much time you spend worrying about the world's problems. Design a limit based around the type of caring you engage in that causes your worry.
     • Remember, worrying never fixed anything, and there are some things you can't fix no matter how badly you might want to. Force yourself to set your worries aside past a certain point, and do whatever you have to do to enforce that limit.
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   Trust yourself. At the end of the day, there are some things that nobody can really control: weather, death, natural disasters, and other such unstoppable forces are a part of life on Earth. Learn to place faith in your own ability to handle them. You can't change the way such things behave, so all you can really do is prepare for them, and trust in yourself to do what you can when faced with them.
   • For example, thousands of people get into car accidents every year, but people continue to use cars because they trust themselves to do everything they can to avoid such an eventuality: driving safely, wearing seatbelts, learning from past mistakes, and responding quickly to changes on the road ahead of them. Take the same attitude with every uncontrollable force in your life.
   • It's sensible to prepare for misfortune. Things like emergency food and water, first-aid kits, and fire extinguishers are wise investments in your continued safety. However, be sure when you prepare that your preparations are easing your worries rather than fueling them. Don't give in to urges to buy and prepare more and more. The goal is to find a reasonable balance, say "this is enough," and get on with your daily life.
   Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Worrying-and-Start-Living