It's normal to worry about things – you want the best for your family and you want everything to go smoothly in your life, so if there's a chance that something could go wrong, you start to worry.

While a little bit of worry is normal, it doesn’t mean you should let stress and anxiety rule your life. Except in horrible situations, there’s no reason to let anxiety and stress rule your life. You can still enjoy a good book or an afternoon at the beach with the kids.

How to Stop Worrying About the Wrong Things

One of the big problems I see with most personal development programs is that they don't differentiate between the things you shouldn't worry about and the things you should worry about. It's not healthy to constantly worry about your health when you're otherwise healthy.

However, it is completely normal to be concerned about your child's health if he or she has been showing listless behavior for several days.

The key is to set realistic expectations for yourself. It is impossible to eliminate stress and anxiety from your life completely, some things just deserve your concern.

However, if you take a moment every day to think about what exactly you are worried about, it is much easier to reduce this. Ask yourself the following three questions:

• Is this something I can have control over?
• Can I do anything about it right now?
• What is the probability that this problem will actually occur?

When you realize you have no control over something, it’s easier to let it go – not always easy, of course, but easier.

If you have control over the outcome of a situation, you can ask yourself if you can do anything about it now. Most people only pile up problems because they are not solved immediately when something can be done about them.

For example, worrying about your child's vacation is pointless, because there is nothing you can do about it at the moment.

Finally, if you worry about something you think you have control over, what are the chances of that outcome happening? The things we worry about the most are often the least likely to happen. 95% of all our worries are illusions.

Learn to appreciate the little things again

Relaxation and appreciation is a learned behavior, it's like riding a bike, although it takes a lot longer than 5 min to relearn. But trust me, you can remember how to do it.

Somewhere between your birth and your first report card, you were a blissfully happy child without any worries, and you want to regain that state by constantly practicing how to stop worrying.

To do this, think about what you like for at least 3-4 hours a day. Write it down, do it and remove all the stressful things from your life. If you are going out with your children, leave your mobile phone at home. If you are on holiday, leave your laptop at home. etc.

You may think this is impossible, but you'll be surprised how well colleagues can do without you and how a missed email doesn't erase itself after a few hours.