(Extracted from The Art of the Good Life by Rolf Dobelli)
That’s why we’re plagued by anxiety morning till night. This unease is a totally normal software component of our brains, biologically hardwired and virtually impossible to switch off. Without the burden of worry, neither you, dear reader, nor I, nor any other human being would exist. Over millions of years, constant anxiety has proved itself an excellent survival strategy.
… ninety percent of your worries are superfluous—either because the problems you’re turning over in your mind aren’t really dangerous or because you can’t do anything about them anyway.
… Perpetual anxiety leads to chronic stress, which can take years off your life. A memorable example from the animal kingdom illustrates the problem. Sparrows have a variety of natural predators—racoons, owls, falcons. Canadian researchers decided to block off a whole area of forest with nets, shutting out the sparrows’ natural enemies. Never before had the sparrows been safer. Then the researchers dotted the forest with hidden loudspeakers. In one area of the woods they played the noises of predators, and in the other unthreatening natural sounds. The sparrows exposed to the “bad” noises laid forty percent fewer eggs, the eggs they did lay were smaller, and fewer of them hatched. Many of the chicks starved to death because their parents were too afraid to forage for food, and the surviving chicks were weaker. The experiment clearly showed that it doesn’t even take a real threat to influence a whole ecosystem—fear is enough.
… fretting has become a popular diversionary tactic, because it’s easier to deal with abstract questions than to engage with actual problems. This is where fretting becomes procrastination. The resultant chronic anxiety leads to bad decisions and can make you ill—even if, viewed objectively, you’re not in any danger.
… The Greek and Roman philosophers known as the Stoics recommended the following trick to sweep away worry: determine what you can influence and what you can’t. Address the former. Don’t let the latter prey on your mind.
… fetch a notebook and title it My Big Book of Worries. Set aside a fixed time to dedicate to your anxieties. In practical terms, this means reserving ten minutes a day to jot down everything that’s worrying you—no matter how justified, idiotic or vague. Once you’ve done so, the rest of the day will be relatively worry-free. Your brain knows its concerns have been recorded and not simply ignored. Do this every day, turning to a fresh page each time. You’ll realize, incidentally, that it’s always the same dozen or so worries tormenting you. At the weekend, read through the week’s notes and follow the advice of Bertrand Russell: “When you find yourself inclined to brood on anything, no matter what, the best plan always is to think about it even more than you naturally would, until at last its morbid fascination is worn off.” In practical terms, this means imagining the worst possible consequences and forcing yourself to think beyond them. You’ll discover that most concerns are overblown. The rest are genuine dangers, and those must be confronted.