Uncertainty plays an enormous role in your worry patterns. Chronic worriers want to know outcomes before they happen and can’t stand the doubt and uncertainty that comes with so many life situations.

To the chronic worrier, the worry pattern is a good way to predict an outcome. They need to know exactly what’s going to happen in certain (worrisome) situations so they can prevent unpleasant reactions to surprises and better control the outcome.

Life is totally unpredictable, so no matter how much the worrier projects a scenario into the future, the likelihood of it happening just that way is unlikely. Rather than enjoying the present moment, the chronic worrier is too busy worrying and predicting the future.

The immediate need for certainty makes the chronic worrier a nervous wreck and may eventually affect his or her mental and physical health. Continue reading →

When you’re a chronic worrier, unsolvable worries can be highly toxic to your physical and mental well-being. Also, if you’re a chronic worrier, you may think that every problem is unsolvable.

You’ve got to learn how to distinguish between those problems you can solve and those you can’t in a realistic manner.

Dealing with worries you can’t possibly solve means that you must be in touch with your emotions and find out why you’re so anxious about something you have no control over. Worrying about a nuclear war falls under this category.

It will likely never happen, but you may be obsessing over it anyway.

When you begin to obsess about a problem, stop a minute and try to answer the following questions: Continue reading →