Anxiety can make you fear the worst, but don’t let it ruin your life

Accepting uncomfortable truths will help you embrace the joy of living

Has anyone ever told you to “stop worrying” or that “it will all work out in the end”? It doesn’t really help, does it? After more than 10 years of working with clients as a psychotherapist, I am so aware of the headspace that worry and anxiety consumes. I know how uncertainty can taint otherwise wonderful experiences, catch us restless in the dark while those around us sleep, and find us living much of life from a braced position.

As a child, I was full of worry, having lived through one of my own worst-case scenarios: losing a sibling. No matter how many times someone told me not to worry, it never silenced the thoughts and fears in my mind. How can someone reassure me that the worst probably won’t happen when, in one way, it already has? We reassure each other that “it’s fine, nobody is judging you”, or “I’m sure that medical test will come back clear”, yet these well-meaning words don’t tend to offer much of the reassurance we crave, because we know full well that bad things do happen, we do get judged by others and there’s always a chance the test will come back positive.

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