Mind Over Matter…

…a Mindmap of worry, stress, and anxiety

Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash

I read an excellent article “The Difference Between Worry, Stress and Anxiety” by Emma Pattee in the New York Times. About the same time, I also read a great Medium post “31 Important Things You Should Say ‘No’ to for a Happier Life” by Danny Forest.

Based on two I was inspired to create a mind-map on worry, stress, and anxiety as these are issues I deal with and understanding them better helps me cope.

Now matters most — This 2 shall pass

Some things that have helped me overcome the challenges of worry, stress, and particularly anxiety are:

1. I got cancer, that put it all in perspective. It is interesting; once you get over the initial shock and fear of a cancer diagnosis you go through emotional stages. Eventually, the last and hopefully final stage for me has been a sense of freedom, to heck with cancer, “I’m fine.” The goal of my treatment, which is going well, is to manage cancer and die of something else. I can deal with that. I simply don’t worry about it (but I do think about it, all the time). Without the worry, I don’t have the stress or anxiety.
2. Tai Chi. Essentially practicing mindfulness. At its purest, for me, is when I “forget”…