When we become a parent, we immediately find ourselves worrying about things that didn’t concern us before. While there’s a lot we have to be concerned about, and the statistics can certainly be alarming, if we find ourselves worrying about getting cancer or constantly checking the news with regards to the COVID situation, we’ve got to address the concept of “health anxiety.” A lot of people are experiencing health anxiety due to the pandemic, so with this in mind, what can we do to relax our minds, be proper parents, and give our attention to the people that need it the most?
Focus on the Basics of Health
There’s a lot of information out there that can cause us to go down the internet rabbit hole. Dr. Google is such a fantastic example, and we can spend a lot of time trying to fix our health when there’s nothing to fix in the first place. But sometimes, it’s about ensuring you have the basics in place. If you have concerns about the risks of heart attacks and strokes as you get older, this is easily remedied by aspirin. A low-dose aspirin like Cartia or any other brand is a very simple thing you can do to thin the blood and lower the risks of heart attacks and strokes. And, of course, make sure that you are feeling healthy in yourself.
Think About Your Mental Effort
If you worry about your health, how much time are you actually spending thinking about it? Because if you are spending more time worrying about something that may or may not happen to you, this could be mental energy spent on something far more beneficial. You can spend more time with your children, having a hobby, or learning something new. And this is why we need to remember that if we are too focused on our health, we need to dial that in and take steps to clarify our values and bring purpose to our lives. This will reduce any sense of distress.
Learn to Calm Your Body
Relaxation skills are in abundance out there, and if you worry about your health too much, you need to find the right practices that bring you back to the present moment. We can focus on every little thing that appears wrong with our body, when in fact, all we need to do is to refocus our attention on the things that matter. What you are thinking is not necessarily true. When we feel anxious about our health, we are taking the baton and running with it. If you focus too much on being completely healthy would you feel that you’ve failed yourself if you caught a snivel? A lot of the time, our worries are unwarranted.
If you find you worry about your health too much, it might come from a place where you want to be the best father possible, but you must remember that if you spend a lot of your focus on being healthy, is your attention being diverted away from the things that really matter?