How to Stop Worrying So Much
This Fascinating Secret Changes Everything
Do you wish you knew how to stop worrying? You worry about things that haven’t happened. Things that already have. Things people said, things they didn’t say. You worry about what might happen to your family, your friends, your kids, your pets. “What if this? What if that?”
You tell yourself I’m done worrying, but before you know it, you’re right back in the spiral. You start asking yourself how to stop worrying about everything, how to stop worrying about the past, the future, and all the mistakes you can’t undo.
It’s exhausting, isn’t it?
If that sounds like you, then this post is going to change your life. Chronic worry isn’t a personality trait; it’s a learned survival pattern. And once you understand why you worry in the first place, you can start to retrain your body and mind to finally feel calm and safe again.
This post will help you understand where worry comes from, why your mind holds onto it, and the exact steps to take if you want to stop worrying. Not just temporarily, but for good.
Why You Worry So Much (And Why It’s Not Your Fault)
Worry might seem like a thinking problem, like your brain just won’t switch off, but underneath, it’s actually an emotional one.
When you strip it back, worry is really just fear in disguise. It’s your mind’s way of trying to protect you from something it believes might go wrong.
Maybe you worry about the future because you fear the unknown. Maybe you worry about the past because you can’t change it. Maybe you worry about mistakes because deep down you fear the feeling of getting something wrong.
Whatever it is, the root cause is almost always the same: your body doesn’t feel safe.
“But nothing in my life is unsafe…”
That’s the part that confuses most people. You might have a roof over your head, food in the fridge, and people who love you and still feel this constant hum of unease in your body.
That’s because the part of you that worries isn’t logical. It’s emotional. It’s the younger, protective part of your subconscious that once felt unsafe, even in small, barely noticeable ways and it learned to use worry as a kind of armour.
For some people, that feeling of “unsafe” started in childhood. Maybe you grew up in a home where people argued a lot, or money was always tight, or love was unpredictable. You might not have been physically in danger, but emotional safety matters just as much.
For others, it happens gradually. Maybe you went through a few stressful years, a tough relationship, or a job that made you feel constantly on edge. Bit by bit, your body learned that it couldn’t relax, that it always needed to be on guard.
Over time, worry becomes your brain’s default coping mechanism.
If you worry about everything, your mind thinks it can control what happens. It believes that if you just think hard enough, you can stop bad things from happening or prepare yourself for them. Of course, that’s not true, but your brain doesn’t know that. It’s just trying to keep you safe, the only way it knows how.
So when you catch yourself wondering how to stop worrying about everything, remember: it’s not that you’re weak or overdramatic. It’s that your body learned long ago that safety depends on staying alert.
Step 1: Discover the Root Cause of Your Worry
Now that you understand why you worry, the next step is to uncover your personal reason for it.
There’s no one-size-fits-all cause. For some people, it’s linked to a specific memory or period of stress. For others, it’s a pattern that’s been there for as long as they can remember. But here’s the key: the moment you understand what’s driving it, a huge amount of that tension begins to lift.
It’s like walking beside a friend, struggling to keep up because your back feels like it’s breaking. You look over and wonder how they’re walking so easily, and they just smile and say, “Put down the boulder.”
And that’s when you realise you’ve been carrying this massive weight the whole time without even knowing it. You set it down, and instantly you feel lighter. Freer. Like you can finally breathe again.
That’s what it’s like when you finally understand the real reason behind your worry. It’s not small or subtle; it’s life changing.
Journaling: The most powerful tool to uncover your “why”
One of the best ways to discover the reason you worry is through journaling. Writing down your thoughts gets them out of your mind and onto paper, where you can actually see them for what they are.
When you journal, you move emotions from your subconscious into your conscious awareness and that’s where real healing starts.
Try writing about:
What you tend to worry about most often.
When you first remember feeling anxious or “on edge.”
What you fear might happen if you didn’t worry.
What situations make your body tense up the most.
Don’t overthink it — just write. Let it be messy, honest, and unfiltered. The goal isn’t to analyse yourself, it’s to listen to yourself.
If you’re not sure where to start, I’ve created something that can help.
🌿 The Mental Health Reset Guide — Coming Soon
If you’re tired of feeling trapped in your own mind, constantly worrying about everything no matter how hard you try to stop, this guide was created for you.
The Mental Health Reset Guide gently helps you uncover what’s really behind your worry; not in a vague, surface way, but in a way that finally makes things click.
It guides you through the emotion’s underneath it all, helping you understand your mind on a deeper level and finally start releasing what’s been keeping you stuck.
You’ll find 220 journal prompts across 22 categories, carefully designed to walk you through that process: from awareness, to release, to relief.
And because healing worry takes more than just insight, the guide also includes a full section of calming activities and science-backed techniques to help your nervous system reset and your mind feel safe again.
If you want to be the first to know when it’s released, you can join the waiting list below.
Step 2: Regulate Your Nervous System and Teach Your Body Safety
Once you’ve started to understand the roots of your worry, the next step is to retrain your body to feel safe again and this is where nervous system regulation comes in.
When you worry, it’s not just your mind that’s racing, your heart rate increases, your breathing becomes shallow, and your muscles tighten. This is your sympathetic nervous system (the part that handles “fight or flight”) taking charge.
It’s designed to protect you in moments of real danger like if you were being chased or had to react quickly to avoid harm. In those moments, your body releases stress hormones to help you survive.
But here’s the problem: your body doesn’t know the difference between being chased by a lion and your mind imagining a worst-case scenario.
So when you spend all day worrying about the future or replaying the past, your body reacts as if those dangers are happening right now.
The two sides of your nervous system
To understand how to stop worrying, it helps to know the basics:
The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activates your body’s alarm response. It gets you ready to fight, run, or protect yourself.
The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is your calming system. It slows your heart rate, relaxes your body, turns non-essential functions like digestion back on and brings you back to calm.
Both are essential but your body is meant to spend most of its time in the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state. The sympathetic state is designed for short bursts only, when real danger is present.
When you are constantly worrying, your sympathetic nervous system is switched on almost all the time. The alarms never stop. That is why you might feel tired, wired, or unable to focus, because your body was never designed to live in survival mode 24/7.
If you also struggle with bloating, digestive issues, poor sleep, or general fatigue, that is no coincidence. When your body is in a constant state of alert, it temporarily turns down functions like digestion, hormone balance, and immune repair so it can focus on survival.
So, how do you teach your body it is safe again?
Daily calming sessions: 10–15 minutes that change everything
The fastest, most reliable way to calm your nervous system is through your breath.
Slow, deep breathing tells your body there’s no immediate threat. It sends a signal to your brain that says, “It’s safe to relax now.”
Try this simple practice:
Sit or lie somewhere comfortable.
Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of 4.
Hold that breath gently for a count of 4.
Exhale through your mouth for a count of 6.
Repeat for 10–15 minutes, once or twice a day ideally morning and evening.
By making your exhale longer than your inhale, you’re directly activating your parasympathetic nervous system. It’s scientifically proven to reduce cortisol (the stress hormone), calm the heart rate, and bring your body back into balance.
If you keep this up for 30–90 days, your nervous system will start to find a new normal. You’ll notice your baseline anxiety gradually lowering, your thoughts quieting down, and your reactions feeling calmer and more grounded.
You can also add short “mini resets” throughout your day, even 60 seconds of slow breathing before a meeting, while waiting in traffic, or after reading a stressful message, can help retrain your system to stay in a state of calm.
Over time, your body will learn that it’s safe to rest and when your body feels safe, your mind no longer needs to worry.
Living a Life Beyond Worry
If you’ve spent most of your life worrying, it can be hard to imagine what it feels like not to.
But here’s the truth: worry is not your personality. It’s not who you are. It’s just a pattern your mind created to feel safe. And patterns can be rewired.
By understanding where your worry comes from and calming your nervous system each day, you’re literally teaching your brain and body that life doesn’t have to be lived on high alert.
It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen. And when it does, the freedom you feel is incredible.
You start waking up with a quiet mind. You stop overanalysing every conversation. You feel lighter, more present, more you.
If you’re currently wondering how to stop worrying about everything, how to stop worrying about the future, or how to stop worrying about the past — start here. Understand your triggers. Journal through your feelings. Teach your body safety through breath and calm.
Because once your nervous system learns peace, your mind will follow.
A Final Word
If you’re a chronic worrier, please know this: it’s not a life sentence.
You’re not just “a worrier.” You’re someone whose body has been trying to protect them for far too long and it’s finally time to show that body it’s safe to rest.
Commit to understanding your personal reason for worrying. Practice your breathing each day. Create moments of calm that remind your system you’re safe.
I can promise you this: if you do these two things consistently, in a month from now, you’ll feel like a completely different person.
As someone who used to worry constantly, I can tell you the difference is astronomical. I look back at my old self and almost lovingly laugh at how much she used to stress over things that never even happened.
You deserve that freedom too.
Calm isn’t something you chase, it’s something you teach your body to remember. And once it remembers, everything changes.
Don’t forget to join the waitlist to be the first to know when The Mental Health Reset Guide is available, you’re not going to want to miss this!