How can I stop worrying excessively, all the time?

Hi,

I want to thank you so much for reaching out and asking for some additional support/guidance with your question. It sounds like you have a bit of anxiety occurring which is interfering with your general life experience and satisfaction.  This can stem from various sources and often times our thinking patterns can be directly impacted by anxiety, making us experience having racing thoughts, preoccupied thoughts, and can also make us feel like we are worrying more than appropriate.  Of course all of these thought styles can get in our way and impede our otherwise healthy functioning.   It sounds like this is partially what is occurring for you in terms of feeling overwhelmed and potentially shutting down as a result. 

You mentioned excessive worrying.  Sometimes we can get into a head space where things seem much more daunting than they factually are or we feel off kilter or out of balance between our emotional side of our experience in comparison/contrast to that of our logical knowing.  We can start to make connections between things that otherwise don't need to be connected and can sort of fuel our own worry cycle as a result. This can quickly lead to a feeling of being unsettled, uncertain, or even the feeling we or others are not safe.  The good news is that anxiety can be treated well through therapeutic skills and techniques.  Additionally there are very effective medication options that can also help in these regards.

One of the first things I assess with people who are experiencing challenges with their mental health is how they are doing with the basics of self care.  Sleep is most directly tied to our mental well being and when we are not sleeping well it can lead to many different challenges, including an increase in anxious symptoms and worrying.   Additionally, what we put into our bodies matters.  Healthy and adequate nutrition is so important for our brain functioning.  Hydration is also super important.  Did you know that our brains are over 80% water!? That means if we are not well hydrated we are not getting adequate blood flow and Oxygen to our brains for it to be able to operate properly!  Physical activity is another overlooked component of our well being and has direct links to our mental wellness and brain functioning as well.  So just to begin, there are some very basic things we can do to improve our mood, thought processes, and emotional management without even having to leave our homes!

However, sometimes just taking adequate care of ourselves is not sufficient and we need some additional support and guidance to help us find our way through. Self confidence and self compassion are very important components to our success and enjoyment from life.  It sounds as though you are very capable in your career and have been rather successful in that regard.  However it sounds as though you still have a very strong inner critic that is fueling a good deal of self doubt and insecurity in your inner dialogue and thus is interfering in your daily life functioning.  Often these voices and messages we hear internally initially started with an external source which we ultimately absorbed as our own thoughts and feelings.  If we can trace that back we can often discover where our self doubt stems from and with the help of a guiding professional can become more aware of how we learned maladaptive ways to navigate the world and thus can learn healthier and more fruitful methods of functioning going forward. We can actually change our inner voice to something that is much more helpful, compassionate, and encouraging.  

I would encourage you to consider working with a therapist who could help with CBT and DBT skills to help you build a healthier relationship with yourself as well as others and to help navigate your way to a more healthy thinking style.   It can take some time, but this can be highly effective and can thus help you with increasing your self confidence, lowering your inner criticisms and helping to better manage the anxiety and worry you are describing.  

I hope this helps in some small way!  You are worth choosing and showing up for.  Glad to see you found your way here in that regard and I hope you continue to follow that path. 

Warm Regards