By: Batumba Tak
General Secretary
The St. Kitts-Nevis Trades & Labour Union
A Few Signs That We Worry Too Much
In the words of the Holy Bible, Matthew 6: 27-29, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautiful as they are.
Lately I have been telling most of my friends that being sick SUCKS. I can attest to that fact. I had taken sick in early March, 2018 and ended up in the hospital. While there I began to worry a lot, I mean a lot which also send up my stress level. I was release just about a week before Labour Day, but since then I have been experience quite a lot of pain on my left side from my shoulder to the tip of my fingers, and also my left calf.
Since then I have come to realize that the first and most obvious thing that the Holy Bible says about worry is that it is NOT something that God desires His children to do or to suffer from.
However, although God does NOT want His children to suffer, that does NOT mean He wants us to be irresponsible or uncaring.
For example, “Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives us something to do but doesn’t get us anywhere.”For another example, The Biblical idea of worry carries the connotation of an annoying, distracting, disturbing state of being that keeps us from doing what God call us to do.”
Thus, there is work to be done and the cause of Christ should captivate our hearts and engage the full capacities of our minds and bodies.
Therefore, with everything that life bombards us with nowadays, worry can and do easily take over if we allow it to. In fact, we continually think about paying our bills, raising our children well, keeping the house clean, reporting to work early each day, among other things that keep our minds running on overdrive.
However, please keep in mind though that a little worrying and stress won’t hurt us, because everyone deals with challenges at one point or another in our daily lives. But when it becomes a daily habit, however, an incessant nagging that won’t go away, it should definitely raise some red flag.
Thus, worry can and do catapult us into either a sea of doom, or a land of opportunities, depending on how we use it. Worry is a tool that we can utilize to better our lives, but many people allow worry to dictate their every waking moment, which is incredibly unhealthy.
Nevertheless, please find below a few signs that we worry too much:
1. We Can’t Ever Relax: Obviously, we all at one time or the other deal with stressful situation in our lives at some point. In addition, it is a fact that stress can and do help us make the tough decision, and allow us to transform into better people. Moreover, when this stress creeps up during seemingly very small occurrences and disrupts our daily life, this is a clear indicator of chronic worry, or generalized anxiety disorder.
Very careful research has shown us that the Anxiety and Depression Association of America has clearly state that over 5. 1% of the population or 7. 8 million adults, suffer from this disorder.
It is fully believe that if we find that we have persistent anxious thoughts that continue to disrupt our daily lives, these points to excessive worry and anxiety.
Anyway, here is what we should do when we worry too much: We should take some deep breaths, ask our self if this is worth losing our peace over, and then bring our awareness back to the present moment.
It has also been said that anxiety creeps up on us when we allow our minds to wander too far into the future, so therefore by using breath to anchor us in the present moment can and will do wonders to dispel worry.
2. We Have Trouble Falling Asleep: Very careful research has clearly shown that many people who worry too much also have trouble getting decent sleep. Because worry can and do cause our thoughts to race uncontrollably, which therefore makes it very difficult to relax into sleep.
According to researchers at Duke University insomnia may predispose people to anxiety and depression, just as anxiety and depression may predispose people to insomnia.
However, racing thoughts and anxiety can and do overtake our minds so much that it keeps us up at nights, which can and do really take a serious toll on our health in the long-term.
3. We Use Food, Alcohol, Or Drugs To Help Suppress Our Worry: Here again very careful research have shown us that there are another sign that we worry too much is using a substance to deal with our conditions. Therefore, by suppressing our feelings with drugs, alcohol or food might feel good in the short-term, but it can and will do a lot of damage to our mental and physical health in the long-term.
Anyway here’s What To Do When We Worry Too Much: The Historian has clearly stated that instead of reaching for that processed snack or a bottle of bear, we should try putting on some relaxing music, and go to our bedroom to just gather our thoughts and center our awareness.
For example, read, write, draw, or take a bath, preferable ‘hot’, in order to calm our nerves in a healthy way; our mind and body will very much appreciate it!
4. We Always Think Of The Worst Case Scenario: Naturally, we tend to scan our immediate environment for perceived threats to our safety. That’s because we have an inborn ability and need to do this in order to survive, but in our modern world this can and most times pose a nuisance and hazard to our very own mental health.
For example, if our mom or dad is driving on a very busy street/highway, we might think of every conceivably bad thing that could happen to them while driving.
But of course, we definitely want our loved ones to remain safe and obsessing over events that likely won’t occur can only takes away our utmost inner peace.
Therefore, at any time we catch our self-having unreasonable thoughts, we must try to replace them with more uplifting ones, and if we want, send out positive wishes and thoughts to those who we feel might need them at the moment in time.
Finally, We Have Recurring Health Problems: The Health Experts have clearly state that ‘worry causes inflammation within the body, which will definitely leads to all sorts of ailments, including high blood pressure, anxiety, sore muscles, stiff joints, a weakened immune system, and much more diseases.
However, if we find that we get sick quite frequently, we must first check in with our mind, because it is fully believe that all diseases begin in the mind, after all, so we have a scattered, frantic mind, this energy will start to travel into the body.
In addition, we must always make sure to give our self-time for meditation, yoga, or some other practice we find relaxing in order to keep our mind centered, healthy, and performing at its very best.
As time is of the utmost importance, we will stop here for today, but will continue in a future article when we look at What Are The Effects Of Worrying.
As I close for today, I leave you with a quote from the Holy Bible, Proverbs 12: 25 and a poem by Francie Lynch.
The Holy Bible, Proverbs 12: 25, “Worry weights a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.” – Proverbs 12: 25.
Why Worry
By: Francie Lynch
Why worry,
About the afterlife.
There’s nothing,
To worry about.