How to Stop Worry & Boost Your Personal Power
“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”
~Serenity Prayer
How do you stop worry and increase your personal power at the same time?
You do it, like the classic prayer above says, by you on what you can change instead of what you can’t, and be aware enough to keep directing your focus in a useful way.
What You Can Do
Is within your area of control. This includes people and events you can directly or indirectly influence; you can get yourself to start running, convince someone to donate money to charity, and start a company.
What You Can’t Do
Includes people and things you can’t directly or indirectly influence; you can’t repair the depleted ozone, you can’t arrest all the terrorists in the world, you can’t even stop new techno music from being made (urgh)!
What You Care About
Includes both the area of things you have control over and those you don’t.
Productivity, growth and positivity are created when you focus on those concerns you have control over and feel the joy of accomplishment when you work on them.
Worry, stress and negativity come when you focus instead on those concerns you don’t have control over and fuss and learn how to be helpless when there’s nothing you can do.
What Can You Do Right Now?
We tend to let ourselves get overwhelmed sometimes, but the truth is that while we might overestimate what we can do in the short term, we tend to underestimate what we can do in the long.
You might not be able to achieve your deepest dreams overnight, but what can you do right now?
A Surefire Way To Multiply Your Personal Power
So you’re not satisfied with plodding along at a mediocre pace, and want a surefire way to explode your personal growth?
All you need to do is remember this maxim:
If something scares you but is good for you; and especially if you feel you can’t do it, then you must.
In other words, stretch. The more you stretch the boundaries of your area of control by stretching them, the bigger your area of influence will stretch over your area of concern.
It won’t be easy, and you might make a few mistakes, but therein lies the serenity to accept things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be, and the power to transform one into the other.
I really enjoyed this post. It’s easy to forget how powerful our physical reactions are! I like your approach here. Especially reminding the reader that we are not always ready for change — though we think we are! I agree that the real failure is letting fear stop us. Thanks for posting this!
Hi Julie,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad it was helpful! “Coping with Stress” is a part of a series of articles on Stress that I have written, hopefully Life Coaches Blog will be posting the rest. So keep in touch!
Kindest regards,
Karen
This is a great article. I especially like the list of symptoms… some of which a lot of people may not recognize as a sign of stress.
It’s also important to continue with your stress managment activities even when there are no signs or symptoms of stress. Doing this will help you become stressed less often and ward off stress before it even begins.
Hi Jill,
Absolutely, it should be a way of life! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Kindest regards,
Karen
Hi,
Great site!!!!! Good health is very important with the high cost of medical coverage. We need to have a healther lifestyle by taking care of our health eating and exercising. I am a cancer survivor and I know. Our health is our greatest asset. Keep up the Good Work!!!!!
The physical body does not differentiate between happy stress and overwhelm. Stress is stress. We need to develop coping mechanisms in our daily life to avoid the harmful, physiological effects of stress.