Life can throw some curveballs at us, which makes the opportunities for worry and fear endless and often unexpected! We must guard ourselves against falling victim to worry or making it a daily habitual choice!
These are the 5 Extremely Valuable Things you give up when you choose to worry!
After many years of struggling, I'm convinced that worry is the door we all walk through when we start our journey with anxiety. Worry is the first and easiest trap we all fall into. I've found that as I begin to allow worry to creep in, the more space it begins to take up in my mind.
If you're anything like me and you allow even the slightest amount of daily cares to consume your mind, take a look with me at these 5 valuable things you are trading for worry!
5 reasons to give up on worry!
#1. It takes away present moments
As King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, "There's nothing new under the sun." For humanity, worry is as old as time. Its roots are deep. Our minds tend to know just how to let it in at the wrong times.
Being a parent to young children, I've noticed that the opportunities for worry are daily, sometimes hourly even. If I allow myself to start worrying about any part of parenting, it takes away all of my moments to be present with them. As they play carelessly, I will sit and worry about their diet, their schedules, their schooling, their attitude, my attitude... the list grows by the hour. Before I know it, the moments with them are gone. Suddenly, I wake up and have an 8-year-old who no longer needs me in the same ways she used to.
The sad reality is that sometimes our quest to become the perfect parent, robs us of being a present one.
I can recount so many parts of my life that I sacrificed because of worry. Living with some regret, I've discovered that it wasn't worth it. Time passes too quickly. Life is too short.
Whether you have children or not, there are hundreds of moments where you'll have the opportunity to choose between concern and worry or being present. It'll look noble and responsible to worry. Anxiety will disguise itself as maturity, and you may find yourself tempted in the name of self-growth and personal development, but don't be fooled. If you let it, worry will rob you of today. And the reality is, you can never get it back once it's gone.
#2. worry robs you of PRODUCTIVITY
It's no secret that worry makes you preoccupied and unproductive. Our lives and mental wellness require us to be productive at some level. Our anxieties increase when we can't complete our daily tasks.
One personal example of decreased productivity due to worry in my own life started early in my marriage. As a young college student, before we had children, I seemed to have all the time in the world, yet I was unproductive. Why? Because I spent a significant amount of time worrying about what others thought of me.
I would spend hours analyzing every conversation I had within the previous weeks, concerned about offending people and fearing they would no longer like me. It was absolutely miserable. All that mental work caused me to be exhausted physically, which meant my assignments for my classes were often late or last minute.
I had all the time in the world, yet I wasted that time on worry most days.
Fast forward to today, my time is more limited than ever. I have three jobs and two kids, I live overseas in a different culture (which can be exhausting), and my plate is stacked more than ever. Still, my productivity is greater than it's ever been. I credit this to my decision to lay down worry and fear.
I decided that it doesn't change anything if I worried. Worry gives me nothing. It only takes everything. How did I "decide" not to worry? I started working on my self-confidence. If I can be confident in my private life, my heart's intentions, and who God created me to be, I can easily brush off people's perceived opinions of me.
If I am doing the best I can in life, then it doesn't matter if someone thinks I am or not.
Worry and fear enslave us to an endless cycle of mind games. Productivity is impossible if we can't think clearly. The truth is that anxiety will never serve us, and being a slave to fear never makes anyone more productive.
HERE ARE SOME BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS ON WORRY:
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Peaceful on Purpose: The Power to Remain Calm, Strong,
Peace Is a Practice: An Invitation to Breathe Deep and Find a New Rhythm for Life
Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
Authentically, Uniquely You: Living Free from Comparison and the Need to Please
#3. ANXIETY STEALS YOUR PEACE OF MIND
There is so much to be said about peace. I saw this quote the other day, and I think it clarifies the importance of peace. It said, "There are two types of tired, one that requires rest and one that requires peace." Our minds aren't aligned with peace when we worry.
Peace and anxiety can't coexist at the same time. This is why scripture after scripture tells us not to worry! My favorite bible verse for this is Philippians 4:6-7, which says,
"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."
It's a trade; you give God your anxieties through prayer and thanksgiving, and he will provide you with peace that surpasses all understanding, and then peace will guard your hearts and minds against worry and fear!
If you ask me, It's a trade-off worth everything.
#4. it HINDERS DEEP AND MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS
Because we aren't always good at seeing ourselves as worriers, I want you to think of the most anxious person you know and ask yourself how their worry affects their relationship with you or others?
Then ask yourself how your worries may be affecting others in your life.
I have several people in my life who struggle with intense worry and anxiety, and I've struggled with it for years. It's common among us all. Worry damages friendships significantly and limits our ability to form meaningful ones. It turns us inward, and the more self-focused we are, the less we have or want to give to others.
Meaningful relationships develop from vulnerability, trust, time, and genuine selflessness. Anxiety takes all of these and distorts them.
For this reason, many who struggle in this area feel isolated and alone. Though we desire deeply to love and be loved, our fears keep us from the ability to connect on the deepest levels with others.
God designed us for deep and meaningful relationships with him and others. Worry robs us of His destiny for us in that.
If we view worry as a trade for relationships, it's easy to see which is more costly to lay down.
#5. it LIMITS YOUR FUTURE SUCCESSES
The last thing that worry steals from you is your future.
Our future is built in our present moments, determined by productivity and peace of mind, and built on meaningful relationships. If we are trading the success of these areas by choosing worry, we are unknowingly diminishing our future successes.
It's said that the wealthiest place on the planet is a graveyard because of how many unrealized dreams and great ideas live there—what a sad thought.
I'll leave you with a few questions:
What if Steve Jobs never created Apple because he felt unqualified?
Or Bill Gates never shared his idea for Microsoft because he was afraid of what others would think of him?
What if Martin Luther King Jr. feared men so much that he never shared his dream and empowered others to help fulfill it?
If we let it, fear could rob the earth of our ideas and dreams. It's our job to make sure we live fully and fearlessly so that the things God placed inside us don't remain locked away and then buried in a grave somewhere.
A life lived to the minimum is a life filled with worry. A life lived to the maximum is a life void of it.
May this article serve you as a reminder to follow your dreams, be brave, and not let worry rob you of today!
Let me know in the comments how this helped you.
