You have to rationally evaluate the likelihood of things happening and react accordingly. There’s no point in worrying about something that has a 0.0000002% of happening ever, much less specifically to you or in your lifetime.
I am mindful that the things listed in the OP could happen, but most I think are silly to worry about. I do take reasonable steps to avoid the things I can change: my finances, my health, my safety, my well-being. Everything else, I deal with when it becomes a reasonable possibility.
If Al Qaeda targeted me right as a tsunami thundered my way and wildfires ravaged my apartment as all the food in the world suddenly turned into styrofoam peanuts, all I can really do is be grateful the water would put out the fire.
When it comes to natural disasters, car accidents, Random acts of violence etc, I tend not to even think about it. Shit happens and if I die from something like that, then so be it. Death doesn’t bother me nor scare me.
I worry about what certain people think of me and I can’t control that or what they think/do. I know I put a lot of effort into that and no matter how much effort I expend, it isn’t going to change the outcome or what they think/feel about me. It’s a hard one for me.
I used to be a big worrier when I was a kid. Over time, I’ve become less and less fearful, and more easygoing. I’m not sure why, exactly; maybe I’ve just learned by experience that most bad things don’t happen, and the ones that do—eh, you deal with 'em.
Hey, you sound like me. Except the first thought I always had was that someone had come to drop a nuke on my head. Completely notwithstanding that I live in a place that contains absolutely nothing useful or even remotely important enough to bomb with anything, much less a big expensive nuclear warhead, and that nobody on Earth would fly over in a turboprop airplane to drop explosives in this day and age.
I stopped most of the insomnia and dry-heaving at random times by flat-out not reading newspapers or ever watching television news anymore. I do not keep track of the details of international politics, because aside from voting for people I don’t think are completely off their rockers, there are ZERO things I can do about any of it. I only keep up with things like telecommunications and tech/internet news – an arena where I CAN speak up, protest, and change things if I have half a mind to.
The world is simply too big for any one person to keep track of these days. I can’t care about everyone; I don’t have that kind of energy. And as for natural disasters, they’ll either hit or the won’t, and aside from having some canned food, bottled water, and a good sturdy copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (“DON’T PANIC”), there’s nothing I can do. So I don’t think about it.
I don’t worry about things I can’t control, but I do “awfulize.” For example, I know my friend is working on painting his house this evening and is going to be standing on a sloping roof to do it. If I e-mail him and don’t get a reply back, I assume it’s because he’s lying dead in his front yard, having fallen off the roof.
I mitigate that as much as I can by saying to the person I’m “awfulizing” about, “Look, I know I’m a ridiculous worry-wart, but do me a favor and drop me an e-mail when you’re done painting so I know you’re not lying dead in the front yard.” That works most of the time.
On June 30, write down the 31 worst things you are worrying about that might happen in July. Put the list away.
On July 31, take the list out and see how many actually happened. If you are like most people, you will be hit by at least one damn thing that wasn’t even on the damn list!
You do the best you can to control the future, then give it up. Worrying never helped anyone.
I worry about everything, and sadly I lack the ability (a dubious one, to me) to “stop thinking” about things, any attempt just makes me think about whatever it is all the more. But it remains inside my head and doesn’t hinder my work or daily life, so one might also say I’m dealing with it fine.
Though I have the occasional anxiety of something that is definitely approaching (I have to have wisdom teeth surgery next month, and I am not happy about the whole thing), I generally do not worry about stuff, especially those completely out of my control. I’m a very easygoing guy about most things, and don’t stress out.
But then I deliberately have a very simple life where most potential worries are actively avoided. One thing I’m going to have to do soon is organise myself into getting a proper fulltime job again, which I don’t want to have to do but inevitably will, and that sucks. But for now, I am not too concerned, and am only partially rallying things in a very slow fashion.
I don’t worry about those at all, except the first one but not about my own health.
Whether my mother and/or the Grandparents from Hell will do something stupid that requires me to drop my job and become a full-time caretaker (with attempts at getting part-time work from home stuff or somesuch), that does worry me. I manage to keep it out of mind most of the time, but whenever it’s time to call Mom I approach the phone with trepidation. And if my brothers call me, oh… my…
Is that a Stepper saying? I’ve never heard it before and I thought I had heard them all. Wow. Each new one seems (to me) more absurd and inane than the last!
But that’s just me-- I have a great deal of trouble suspending rationality and leaving all of my problems to the care of a ketchup bottle or doorknob. But if one is a True Believer then I have no doubt that all those trite sayings have a positive placebo effect.
Really though, I’m not anxious at all about any of those things–they don’t feel real to me at all. Doesn’t mean I don’t have anxiety problems, but its usually about things I can control but am afraid of not doing well.
I have enough trouble worrying about the stuff I should be controlling and don’t, so there’s absolutely no way I’m going to waste time worrying about things I can’t control even if I wanted to.
Or something like that.
Mostly, I finally realized a few years ago that worrying about things I cannot change won’t change the outcome since I can’t change it. I may still think about them from time to time, but really, worry about them? Nope.
*** Disease and/or injury causing long-term medical needs or death.**
Yes, I worry about that. But, it’s happened before (not the death part), so I figure I might survive again next time.
*** A injury causing or fatal accident.**
Yes, I worry about that. But, it’s happened before (not the fatal part), so I figure I might survive again next time.
*** Random acts of violence and/or crime.**
Yes, I worry about that. But, it’s happened before, so I figure I might survive again next time.
*** Natural disaster (whatever is appropriate to your area).**
Yes, I worry about that. But, it’s happened before, so I figure I might survive again next time.
*** A major act of terrorism directly affecting you.**
That hasn’t happened to me before and I don’t worry about it much.
*** Apocalyptic Peak Oil/Food/Water.**
If it’s happening, I can’t do much about it. Might as well have some fun in the meantime.
*** A Western U.S. supervolcano erupting, wiping out the U.S. and changing the global environment too much for humanity to survive**
Man, that’s the one we use to cover for all our worries! Anytime I’m talking with my buddy, and one of us is fretting about something, the other calms him down by saying, “Why worry? Yellowstone will probably go all supervolcano on us and kill everyone anyway.”
