10 Things We All Worry About

Unclench your fists, slow your breathing and let go of your hair. We’ve got good news for you worry warts—we’re all doing it!

- Shari Nementzik

Terrified of terrorism?Self-conscious all the time? Career conundrums? How do we know? We asked over 500 Cosmo readers what their greatest worries are, and it turns out we fret over the same things. Yes, we’re a worried bunch, but enough is enough and now we’re calling time on this toxic relationship. So, we’ve gathered a team of experts to help silence that inner voice once and for all and bust our top 10 concerns.

1. YOUR CAREER

A whopping 90 percent of you are losing sleep over your careers, with 56 percent revealing you think about it all the time.Talk about work zapping your energy! Whether you’re worrying about job security, your salary or whether or not you’re in the right job altogether, the best thing you can do is remind yourself that you are not your work. “We all want to achieve the best that we can, but sometimes we can raise the bar too high,” says Dr Stephen Carbone, Evaluation Research Leader with Beyond Blue. “I’m not saying people shouldn’t try to excel and do their best, but if you put all of your eggs in that basket and your identity depends on you being this wonderfully successful person and you’re not going to value yourself unless you are the CEO of the biggest company in the country, there’s a risk you’re going to fail because there’s only one!” Dr Stephen says to always “give it a go, give it your best and if you succeed, pat yourself on the back. But if you don’t, you tried, and failure is not a reflection on someone’s ability or personality, it’s just the way the world works.”

To keep your worries at bay, do something little every day for your career; even if it’s as simple as just updating your resume or attending a seminar. “You are many things and what you do as a job is just one of those things.”

2. TERRORISM