{"id":10811,"date":"2019-05-13T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=10811"},"modified":"2019-04-27T08:24:50","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T12:24:50","slug":"worry-hard-give","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2019\/05\/worry-hard-give.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Worry is Hard to Give Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10813\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2019\/04\/person-4153256_1920-300x155.jpg\" alt=\"person-4153256_1920\" width=\"300\" height=\"155\" \/>We all know worry is not good for us. It takes a toll on our physical health, it creates anxiety and gets in the way of moving forward.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But why do we worry when we know this is problematic?<\/strong> The answer is the same for any dysfunctional behavior that we hang on to and do not release. It serves a purpose or we wouldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a five reasons why we hold on to worry even though none of these reasons are really true. We falsely believe worry\u2026<\/p>\n<p>1) <strong>Stops bad things from happening<\/strong>\u2014Worry has no impact on what happens in our lives. It doesn\u2019t stop anything. But we think we are somehow taking control when we worry. In fact, worry or no worry, life will happen. Worry only makes you feel worse and doesn&#8217;t stop a thing.<\/p>\n<p>2) <strong>Prepares us for the worst outcomes<\/strong>-85% of the time what we worry about doesn\u2019t come true so this is a lot of wasted energy. Again, this is a false belief that somehow worry will prepare us for when the bad news comes. You will feel bad with bad news no matter if you worry or not. But you will really feel bad worry about things that never come to pass.<\/p>\n<p>3) <strong>Allows us to control external events-<\/strong> This isn\u2019t possible. We can\u2019t worry things into happening. This is magical thinking.<\/p>\n<div class=\"score-component ad ad-container hidden-xs text-center col-sm-12\"><\/div>\n<p>4) <strong>Is a way to show we care<\/strong>-Find another way\u00a0too show that you care! You can certainly be concerned for someone and express your concern but worrying about them or for them doesn&#8217;t add to a relationship.<\/p>\n<p>5) <strong>Feels like we are doing something<\/strong> -All we are doing is creating stress on our physical body and engaging in a behavior Jesus told us not to do. We aren&#8217;t moving to a solution with worry. Worry circles problems and keeps us stuck. Instead, we need to learn to sit patiently and wait, trusting God in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Worry takes a toll on our physical, emotional, relational and spiritual lives. Worry strangles (the literal meaning of the word) the joy out of life. Worry also interferes with our spiritual life\u00a0because it is based on doubting God. In order to worry, we have to give up trust and wonder if God will really do what He says He will. The opposite of worry is trust. When trouble comes, do we trust?<\/p>\n<p>If you want to let\u00a0go worry, give up the idea that worry is useful. When we truly believe that worry has no place in our lives, this is the beginning of freedom.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all know worry is not good for us. It takes a toll on our physical health, it creates anxiety and gets in the way of moving forward. But why do we worry when we know this is problematic? The answer is the same for any dysfunctional behavior that we hang on to and do&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[135,134],"class_list":["post-10811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-anxiety","tag-worry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Worry is Hard to Give Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2019\/05\/worry-hard-give.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Worry is Hard to Give Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We all know worry is not good for us. It takes a toll on our physical health, it creates anxiety and gets in the way of moving forward. But why do we worry when we know this is problematic? The answer is the same for any dysfunctional behavior that we hang on to and do&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2019\/05\/worry-hard-give.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-13T10:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-27T12:24:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2019\/04\/person-4153256_1920-300x155.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Worry is Hard to Give Up","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2019\/05\/worry-hard-give.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Worry is Hard to Give Up","og_description":"We all know worry is not good for us. 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Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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