The Worrywart's Companion - 2nd Edition by Beverly A Potter (Paperback)

About the Book

Shows the reader how to worry smart and soothe him/herself so that s/he can think more clearly, deal with the worry at hand, and then let it go.

Book Synopsis

Worrywarts are characterized by chronic anxiety, enslavement to out-of-control thoughts, and haranguing themselves to a degree that triggers FUD -- fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Smart worriers take control of their worry by creating a time and place to do the work of worry, objectively studying their behavior to better understand how to worry effectively, and practicing flexible thinking rather than rut thinking. Smart worriers look for solutions, including partial solutions, and accept what can't be changed, challenge their worries, practice making under-reactive statements that defuse anxiety rather than fuel it. The Worrywart's Companion offers a smorgasbord of tools to help readers become smart worriers, including deep breathing and muscles relaxing exercises, practicing deliberate belly laughing, saying a prayer, doing a good deed, taking a walk, rocking oneself, counting details to keep one's mind off of the worry, and more. When smart worriers finish the work of worry, they purposefully soothe themselves so that they can move on to other activities. The Worrywart's Companion helps disquieted readers integrate soothing activities into their daily lives to keep worry-provoking anxiety in check.

Review Quotes

The trouble with worrying is that it can get completely out of control and has a habit of escalating. Actor/director Woody Allen, a famous worrywart, illustrated this best when he said, "If I get chapped lips, I think it's brain cancer." Worrying is a kind of "stuckness". Worrywarts get stuck in identifying danger as they immerse themselves in the dread associated with the threat, which may be real or, more likely, imagined." Don't think worrying is bad for you. Think of it as a mental fire drill, a thinking through of things that potentially might happen. It's good to think over what could happen and to have a contingency plan. That is what productive and effective people do. The problem is that the process generates anxiety. Worrywarts can become melodramatic and waste precious time. As American writer Mark Twain said, "There has been much tragedy in my life. And at least half of it actually happened!" Worrywarts can't live in the here and now. Chronic worry can evolve into panic attacks. The anxiety generates more worry, then more anxiety, then round and round you go. A twinge in your chest makes you believe you could soon have a heart attack, a news story about a home invasion 200 miles away keeps you up at night because you fear someone will break in when you're asleep. Learn to stop the worry cycle. You need to understand that just because you feel worried doesn't mean there is anything wrong. It's just your body reacting to those frightening thoughts you are thinking. Worrying is hard to give up. Like a superstition, worry gives people relief and even reduces anxiety. Who among us who has a fear of flying can't relate to obsessing, when we have to fly, on the statistically improbable -- the plane crashing. Worrywarts always gravitate to the worst possible scenario. Learn to worry smart. Smart worriers don't automatically flip into worrying, like a knee-jerk reaction. Smart worriers learn to soothe themselves so that they can bounce back from initial worries. Smart worriers learn "self-talk" -- a kind of inner dialogue in which they talk to themselves the way a friend would, encouraging themselves and challenging extremes. Smart worriers are hopeful, not hopeless. Smart worriers imagine positive possibilities, limit their worries to worry places or diaries, identify worry triggers, rate their worries on a scale of one to ten, challenge their worries, and learn how to under-react. You can learn a new habit, but it takes effort. It's easy to fall back into the habitual thinking pattern. Worry begets worry.-- "Inspire Me Today"

About the Author

Beverly A. Potter, PhD, (Docpotter) received her doctorate in counseling psychology from Stanford University and her masters in vocational rehabilitation counseling from San Francisco State University. She was awarded the prestigious Ford Dissertation Fellowship in Women's Studies.

Docpotter's work blends philosophies of humanistic psychology, social learning theory and Eastern philosophies to create an inspiring and original approach to handling difficulties encountered in today's world. Docpotter has developed a number of original self-help approaches, such as her breakthrough model of job burnout and how to overcome it based upon research in "learned helplessness", her smart worry model inspired by Daniel Goleman's "emotional intelligence", her use of the Japanese ronin--the unindentured samurai---as a metaphor for her new paradigm, non-linear, career strategy for the cyber-age in which work is an adventure. She is noted for challenging rules and thinking of issues from an out-of-the-box perspective.

Docpotter was a faculty member of the University of California at Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy's prestigious Executive Seminar program for City Managers. She was a member of Stanford University's Human Resources Staff Development Program for 20 years. Her managerial training programs have been offered through University of California at Berkeley Extension, San Francisco State Extension, De Anza College Short Courses, as well as in-house training at Sun Microsystems, Genentech, TRW-CI, Hewlett-Packard, GTE, IRS Revenue Officers, Tap Plastics, Becton-Dickinson, Department of Energy, California State Bar Association, International Association for Personnel Women, Design Management Institute, Asian Management Institute, Cisco Systems and others.