4 Ways to Stop Worrying in 2019 If you're a bit of a worry-wart, you have to acknowledge this and get proactive about managing your stress, anxiety and worrying levels. Here's how.

What if I can't complete that piece of work in time? What if my home gets burgled while I'm on holiday? We all worry – some people more than others. A few of these worries are genuine concerns, but most are completely out of our control and are most likely never to materialise.

But still, they occupy our minds. And with the digital world now occupying even more of our time, we've been given even more material to worry about. Famines in far-away countries, children orphaned by a flood, if we simply turn on our TVs or look to social media, we can become completely overwhelmed by what we see. And it's making us all desperately unhappy.

So, what do we do? If you're a bit of a worry-wart, you have to acknowledge this and get proactive about managing your stress, anxiety and worrying levels. Here's how:

Monitor and limit social media

We all know our phones are an addiction. And scrolling through Twitter or Instagram, you can compare your life to everyone else's and add another huge worry to your ever-growing list: I'm not good enough/my life sucks. Which is why there's a growing trend among Generation X-ers (and even some Millennials), to quit social media altogether.

"It was like breaking an addiction for the first few days, where I felt I was missing out, but after a few weeks I realised that the world carries on, and I was still in touch with those people I actually wanted to connect with. I felt lighter and happier," says Caryn White*, a mother-of-two and small business owner. If you can't quit social media for work reasons, then take it off your phone, and only access it on your desktop at specific times of the day.

Limit news

We're not advocating sticking your head in the sand: just limit which channels you absorb news from, and how often you do it. The last thing you need is to open up your phone on waking up and read about the latest catastrophe, which you are powerless to do anything about.

Pick a few trusted news sources and check them at specific times. Avoid the news on the radio in your car; rather listen to fascinating audio books or podcasts that lift your mood instead of making you worry.

Assumption or fact?

This simple concept is incredibly helpful when faced with a worrying situation. Your child has a strange rash, you've Googled it and you're pretty sure it's chickenpox. Now the whole family is going to get it, you'll miss work, your boss will be angry, and you may lose your job. Is the fact that your child has chicken pox an assumption or a fact?

Is losing your job a fact or an assumption? They're both assumptions. So, take your child to the doctor, get a proper diagnosis and then take the next steps from there (a good medical aid can also help ease the stress of the financial cost of doctors' visits). This approach is a simple way to deal with worries that start to spiral out of control in your mind.

Write them down

Worrying can seem insurmountable if it's all in your head. Instead, try this strategy from Qualified FAMSA Counsellor Lynette Blomfield:

1. Take a few deep breaths with your eyes closed, until you calm down.
2. Once you're calm, write down the five most stressful things on your list. It could be increasing expenses, like a huge jump in medical aid costs per month.
3. Brainstorm what you could do to change or eliminate the worry/problem (maybe you can move to a medical aid company that charges less each month?). If necessary, ask a good friend or colleague for advice.
4. Focus on making progress, not ticking all your worries off and striving for "perfection'.
5. Stay on course and come back to your list regularly.

Dealing with worrying is about being proactive. You're the only one that can begin the process of reducing anxiety, so now's the time to take some steps. If you don't know how to begin doing this on your own, it may be best to see a qualified counsellor or therapist to get you started.

*name has been changed