Breaking Free from Chronic Worry

Today, on Your Caregiving Journey, we had our book club discussion. This month, we read “Worried Sick, Break Free from Chronic Worry to Achieve Mental and Physical Health” by Karol Ward. Karol joined us for our discussion, which you can listen to via the player at the bottom of the post. (You’ll remember Karol from last year’s special three-part series on shame.)

Because I hope you will listen to the show, I’m just going to give you the highlights:

We spoke with Karol about her caregiving role to her mom and how worry enters the equation. At the end of our show, she shared how worrying about her mom differs from other times she’s worried.

Worry, Karol said, is the thought process we take to resolve, solve and came up with answers for a current or future situation. Stress is our physical response to the loop worry can take in our minds. The feeling of powerlessness underlies our worry and undermines us.

Karol walked us through one of the tools she offers us in her book to manage our worry. When we want to reach for the gallon of ice cream as way to work through our worry, Karol offers us another option: S.A.N.E:

Stop, take a breath and a moment to reflect on the current situation.
Acknowledge what you are feeling.
Normalize the feelings about the situation and your impulse to reach for the ice cream. It’s okay.
Evaluate the alternative options which help us feel powerful and in control (write in a journal, talk to a friend, take a walk).

Finally, we spoke about how being in a caregiving situation can feel like watching a series of breaking bad news alerts. Just like watching the bad news on the boob tube will affect us negatively, so will the constant caregiving vigilance. It’s okay to step away and give yourself a break. Your body will respond to the break by feeling refreshed. Your mind will respond with a healthier perspective. And, your heart will respond with more compassionate responses to your caregiving situation.

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