Is anyone else a worrier? How do you stop?

[gingajewel]

I do my own head in worrying about everything, stupid things that probably won’t ever happen but it consumes my mind, how do you stop? Is it a form of anxiety?
The reason I have posted this is about two hours ago I saw a mouse by my bins by my front door, now I am convinced that we are going to have them in the house and have spent the last hour googling pest companies and remedies to get rid of them!
Earlier on in the year my oh had some bites on his leg and I was convinced we had bed bugs, for about two weeks all I read about was bed bugs, how to spot them and what to do!
I am like it with my health also and google to the point I make myself l thinking about it!
I know this isn’t normal, it’s like I catastrophise everything and all my thoughts about this one thing.
Is it anxiety? General worry? What can I do to stop it?

Every time you do it outsmart yourself with logic.

“We’ve all got bedbugs”
We have never had bedbugs and it’s being treated. I really like the way you care so much and try to solve problems.”
“But we have bedbugs!”
“We don’t and you won’t die from bedbugs anyway”

Etc! Change the bad into good every single time. Add in some one liners and jokes. Pretend you are speaking to someone else not yourself. You are training yourself to self reassure. It does take practice so keep at it.

I learnt to do this from stilling my mind in meditation so maybe you could try that?

I am sorry you are in so much pain. Others will be along to suggest medication but I have no experience of that, sorry

I used to worry about dying before I was 40, and not seeing my children grow up. Then I used to worry about dying before I was 50 and not seeing my children becoming young adults. I used to imagine cancer, terrorist attacks, car crashes, nuclear war, the lot.

Now I'm in my 60s and none of that happened so I've more or less given up worrying completely.

I've been a worrier all my life. One technique I learned in CBT is using 'worry time'. So, when you start worrying about something, stop, acknowledge the worry but say to yourself 'ok, I'm going to park this for now and worry about it at 11am tomorrow' (or whatever arbitrary time you pick.)

The chances are, you won't actually use the 'worry time' you've allocated. This is especially effective when you start worrying in the middle of the night I find.

In general CBT has helped me learn to reframe my worrying and challenge it, so might be something worth looking into?

Thankyou all, I think I would benefit from cbt, I don’t know if it’s general worrying or anxiety but I spend far too much time dwelling on things.
I feel like I imagine the worst possible scenarios and then over think them to the point I make myself ill. It’s so hard.

I wish I knew how to stop worrying.
I worry about flooding in heavy rain
I worry about trees falling in high winds
I worry about having an accident driving on icy roads
I worry that my husband is 10 minutes late when he’s out on his motorbike
I worry that there is something wrong if my (elderly) mum doesn’t reply to a text within a couple of hours ( normally replies within ten minutes or so)
There is just too much to worry about!

Just to add, we have been flooded, we have had damage due to high winds, husband has come off motorbike, dad has been rushed into hospital, so no unreasonable worries, but all stuff that can’t be prevented by worrying about it!

try using the Headspace app

I would recommend reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, truly life changing, self help book.