Why Your Anxiety Never Goes Away - The Worry Bin

If you struggle with chronic anxiety, your life tends to revolve around three phases.

This pattern happens because of what's called the "worry bin" in your brain, a space for stress and worry.

Understanding those phases, and how to manage them, will help you reduce anxiety by shrinking the worry bin.

You can't eliminate stress entirely, but you can learn skillful distractions to train your brain to focus on more engaging and less stressful activities. The key is not just solving problems but changing how much mental space you allocate to stress and worry.

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Hear the Podcast:

What's inside:
00:00 - The Illusion of Emptying the Worry Bin
04:50 - Adding a Tool to Combat Endless Stress
07:08 - Coping Skill: Mindful Reflection
11:51 - In-The-Moment Anxiety Reduction with Mindfulness Questions
13:59 - Training Your Brain with Skillful Distractions
16:17 - Shrinking the Worry Bin for Sustained Peace

Disclaimer: This content is not intended to be a replacement for receiving treatment. It is purely educational in nature. My relationship with you is that of presenter and audience, not therapist and client. But I do care.

[ed]

My anxiety is so bad that when things go right, I start thinking something is wrong with me because I am not worrying.

[AriesRising]

That strange, empty moment when you don't have anything to worry about and you have to think about what you're supposed to be worrying about. There's always something!

[Robins-wings]

Anticipation anxiety is 95% of my life. The other 5% is past crap that just rotates in my funky brain. Why did I say that, why did I do that. 😢

[joycedropoog]

My anxiety pops up at night. Thinking about life and it gets overwhelming and panick starts kicking in with sleepless nights as a result

[russ]

One thing that has helped me get through social anxiety is telling myself everyone is going to die so it doesnt matter what people think.

[dianewilliams]

The nausea, feeling of doom and heart palpitations over my 6 decades are starting to wear me down... I refuse meds- they make shit worse... I appreciate your talks enormously 🫶

[lynnebucher]

My sister, a decades long caregiver for her sick husband, said to do something kind and good for yourself every day. She takes long walks when weather permits. Exercise makes your body metabolize cortisols that are overproduced when you're under stress. Had a fitness coach impart this fun fact on his last lecture to our class.

[ariojalili]

I am glad that i started to watch your videos and to read your books, because it's helping me to connect with myself. Just 2 weeks ago, i was a complete depressed person with suicidal thoughts. I'm glad you're sharing love with the world, and by this comment i want to pay my respect and love back. ❤️

[skeptik-cixo]

So true. The brain is constantly scanning for threats. I don't feel normal when I'm not anxious, so I often end up finding SOMETHING to worry about. It's really hard to break this habit.

[LEL]

I've only just discovered your channel a few weeks ago, but your content is helping me understand myself and my staggering progress a lot better. I've done therapy for 2 years, and stopped treatments thinking I was in a good place to walk on my own two feet- frankly my therapist thought so too. I fell down a massive rabbit hole of extreme anxiety, panic attacks almost every day, not a single day going by without some type of worry. Was at a point of wanting to admit myself to a psychiatric hospital, because I was so exhausted that I felt like my anxiety was actually killing me. I just didn't want to live this way anymore, and I couldn't. I felt like my body was giving up. Thats when I discovered your videos, and they have brought a slither of hope into my life. Listening to someone talk about the exact feelings that I have been experiencing, and also giving solutions on how to solve these problems, have had a great impact on me. Thank you very much for your work, educating people all over the world that there is hope und how to get better, thats truly amazing. Thank you so much.

[rescuelover]

I have had genetal anxiety all my life and I am 71 now. In those days, no one would have thought an 8 year old had a mental health problem. So I had numrous trips to the hospital for palpatations and other indicators. I take Valium now, and I do not feel any effects at all, and it is the best thing I have taken. I self refect all the time and have always made lemonade out of lemons. So the past is not a problem. Now the big stress is money. My husband passed 2 years ago, so I am trying to work on half of my prior income. That will never go away. I am satisfied with who I am, but there is no way to stop the worry. Also, I cannot get past my husband's death and never will. I listen to your programs, and at least I know I am not the only person facing this. Video quality is great! Thank you!

[stevenkovler]

My Anxiety is 99.9% based on money. I was in a bad marriage and it robbed me blind. If I get out of this debt I know I will heal. My worry is always about money. I never had this level until two years into the marriage. I need to heal or I do not know if I can live like this much longer ! All I do is ruminate!

[lornalouw]

My mom was a constant worrier... Still is. Did us as kids such a dis service, because you assimilate that same pattern.

[TuffBrandz]

Thank you, Dr Scott. Each new year I swear feels like the worst one so far, but 2023 when I finally turned 40, I feel like Chicken Little. The whole universe is fallen onto me. It must get better I labeled 2023 as the year of change. Death brings new beginnings. I'm not giving up.

[albertmarnell]

Video cam was perfect for me. Good information too about anxiety. My mother had severe anxiety. I'm almost 69 years old. She used to say "I've died a thousand deaths from worry." She was trying to say that most things she worried extremely about, never happened.

[amandamitchell]

Yes!! This is so Me!! My worry bin is huge!! I find it very difficult to be happy about anything because I'm in a constant state of worrying about everything. My Mum used to be like this too, she would always say "She would be happy When" this or that was achieved. And I wonder if she ever got there? She passed away last May. So I know "You will be Happy When" is never really achievable.

[chaii_latte]

Love how straight to the point you are.and also how you give multiple examples. You are very thorough. And I love that ✨️

[Appnin]

I'm nearly always anxious, but especially at night. I get certain worries pop into my head at the same times. "Oh i'm stressing over my blood pressure, and worrying where i'll be in 5 years, it must be 10.37pm." Or "Now i'm sad thinking about the loved ones i've lost, and worrying who'll die next, it must be 11.45pm."

[stephaniem]

I like your advice on skillful distractions. I think it runs counter to a lot of advice out there to meditate, journal, do joga, etc. For me, those latter activities can be very difficult and provide little reward when I'm anxious. Then when I "fail, " I have one more thing to add to the "I suck at" list.

[maddie]

Thank you so, so much for offering real insight and real solutions. I think the mental healthcare system in this country is mostly uninterested in giving people real advice for how to cope better, and choose the cheaper "shortcut" of immediately prescribing medications to a person who is struggling, without ever attempting to address the real psychological issue.