Worry is a worldwide issue. I have never met anyone who wishes they worried more. It’s always the other way around. I remember when I worked for the Probation service. We used this standard questionnaire with each new client and one of the questions was: “Do you worry and overthink?” I NEVER had a person answer “No” to that question and I interviewd hundreds of people and asked them to fill in that questionnaire. It just shows you how widespread worry is.
Worry is our enemy. It reduces quality of life and creates untold angst, anxiety and depression for many of us. I have often wished that I had an ‘off switch’ for my worries. Allocating a specific time to worry can be useful. Say you decide that you will allow yourself to worry between 5–6pm each day. During the rest of the day, you will notice worries coming in to your mind. You won’t be able to stop them but try not to pay them too much attention. Say something to yourself like: “There I go again, I am worry and trying to find certainty. I will write this worry down and think about it between 5–6pm”. What you will find is that when your worry time comes around you might not even want to worry about that issue. This is good practise for dismissing worries and not allowing worry to hi-jack your focus.