Worry, Stress, and Anxiety

The New York Times had a helpful article on the difference between worry, stress, and anxiety, and how to deal with each one because they’re three separate things.

“Worry is what happens when your mind dwells on negative thoughts, uncertain outcomes or things that could go wrong.” The expert in the article makes the distinction that worry only happens in the mind, not in the body.

So it’s running through scenarios in your mind: some helpful, some not. I mean, it’s helpful to think through potential problems so you can prepare or deflect. It’s not helpful to think through far-fetched scenarios.

I do this a lot. The new stories making predictions about a recession or job loss or everyone dying (or Facebook posts from people regurgitating said news stories) sends me into worry. It’s sort of based in reality in the sense that components are there that could set those possibilities into motion, but it’s not a concrete worry such as, “Did I turn off the burner on the stove?” Because one worry is helpful (hint: the stove one) because I can act on the worry, stop a fire from happening,  and then take the worry out of my head. And the other worry is just… imagination. I don’t have enough information at the moment to do anything beyond what I’m already doing.

The article recommends giving yourself a worry budget (20 minutes of worrying, and then cutting it off), pushing yourself to look at whether or not the worry is actionable, and writing out your worries.

Stress is the physical manifestation of encountering a situation that is outside your control. “In order for the cycle of stress to begin, there must be a stressor. This is usually some kind of external circumstance, like a work deadline or a scary medical test.” The expert recommends exercise (“to recover from the increase of adrenaline and cortisol”), looking for things you can control, and not comparing your stress response to someone else’s stress response.

Finally, anxiety is the bringing together of worry and stress. It’s in the mind AND in the body. The article gives refocusing and distraction ideas to get you out of the anxiety cycle when it pops up.

What are you doing right now to deal with worry, stress, and anxiety in this situation that is fraught with worry, stress, and anxiety?