It seems that our ability to worry about things is related to intelligence. At least that’s what a New York University study says, according to which, the greater the degree of worry, the greater the intelligence, because worrying keeps us alert to deal with events. However, it’s also been shown that people who worry about everything are at risk for generalized anxiety disorder.
Worrying about everything causes anxiety
- It is true that when we worry about things we get closer to having them under control, we imagine what is to come and we can prepare ourselves to face what comes. But that is in the event that we are correct in our predictions, because it is one thing for something to worry us and we try to avoid it, and quite another for things to turn out as we had thought.
- An excess of worry leads to a state of generalized anxiety with nervousness, tension, irritability, fear and anguish. Because the truth is that, no matter how much we want to, we cannot keep the course of life under our control. It is useless to suffer ahead of events when they have not even arrived. As negative as living trapped in the past is doing it with a constant concern for an uncertain future.
- And the truth is that we can worry about everything: about work, about studies, about health, about family, about our relationship as a couple or even about the weather on the weekend. A concern that prevents us from living in the moment anguished by a future that we do not know but that, in any case, prevents us from being happy.
Stop worrying
- As much as worrying about everything makes us smarter, the goal is not to increase our IQ, but to be happier, so let’s try to observe our behavior objectively and find solutions to all those things that worry us. At least, those that are likely to solve. We will receive everything that is not in our power to fix as and when it comes and it will be then that we start to worry.
- We know that it is not easy to stop worrying about everything and that, many times, our desire for perfectionism can lead us to be alert all the time so that everything turns out perfectly. But it is an attitude that we must put aside to adopt a more positive and realistic one. We make mistakes and our lives are subject to chance, so we can’t handle everything.
- The only thing we can handle is that “what if…” uncertainty that leads us to worry about everything and prevents us from enjoying what is happening at this very moment. Learning to relax and disconnect from problems and worries, at least for a moment, will help us understand that the world keeps turning even if we don’t stay alert “just in case”.