The Internet can be a great place to start when you’re looking for your next big purchase or an awesome way to get inspired when your looking for ideas to make some extra cash, like getting paid to be a virtual friend or renting stuff out to make a profit. But it’s not always a good idea to make it your first port of call when you’re trying to seek reassurance that you’re fit and well.
Many of us look for answers or try to suss out what new niggles may mean. While it can be quite useful as a resource, searching for symptoms online can actually be making our anxiety levels soar.
Health anxiety can be fuelled by googling symptoms and self-diagnosing and it’s a growing problem as more and more information is available online. It’s good to learn about your physical health and going online can have its benefits, but if you find yourself getting stressed and disappearing down a rabbit hole, then it may be time to stop and seek advice before your mental well-being starts to suffer.
Communicating our concerns to others, whether health-related or otherwise can be an important step to coping with excessive worry. Talking can be an effective way to calm our nervous system. Sharing a problem can help us to see a situation more clearly.
Other people may have useful advice to offer, or you may simply gain a different perspective by talking things through. So it can be a good idea, if you find yourself transported into a surreal state that is troubling, to remove yourself from the computer and engage with other humans.
Don’t Worry Alone
Worrying is something we all do to varying degrees. It is thought we worry as a way of trying to help ourselves feel in control of a situation. However, once we realize that worrying is the problem, not the answer, we can start to regain control. Negative thinking is unproductive and distracts us from the positives in life. The more positive our thought processes, the more the brain creates new links that make these thoughts more likely to become a reality.
Humans are designed for a community and we all need someone to share our burdens with. It’s important to recognize that there is no shame in reaching out. When your mind is clouded with worry everything you do will suffer. Research suggests that anxiety is associated with chronic disease, as constantly being under stress suppresses your immune system.
Stress is a natural reaction to life, sometimes it can even be helpful. But it becomes a problem when stress levels remain elevated for long periods of time.
Sometimes just saying your problems out loud is enough to get your thoughts straight in your head, verbalizing them can expose them for what they are – just needless worries. Keeping things to yourself only causes them to build up until they seem overwhelming, so if your fears are justified, sharing them may produce the solutions that you may not have come to on your own.
We can’t carry the world on our shoulders, not if we want to stay sane, so talking things through can help us to feel more relaxed and supported as we go through life.