Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but gets you nowhere. - Glen Turner
What do you worry about? How much of your time do you spend worrying about something that happened or how things will turn out? Has worrying ever helped you positively change the outcome of an event? Do you worry about the people you love? Has this worrying ever produced a positive outcome for the person or you? And most importantly, does your worrying EVER make you feel better?
If your answer to these questions is no, it might be a good idea to start thinking about how your worrisome thoughts are sabotaging your time, your health and your general state of well-being. Worrying is a complete and utter waste of time. It leads to anxiety, which causes serious health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease, digestive disorders, sleep difficulties, chronic headaches and weight problems.
By definition worrying means giving way to anxiety or unease; allowing one's mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles or to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret. Obviously, this type of thinking goes way beyond concern, preparation, planning, making lists, research and learning etc. all of which are positive ways to deal with life’s tricky situations.
These are the most common things people worry about:
1. Money and financial future
2. Work
3. Being late
4. Relationships
5. Health of ourselves or loved ones
One recent scientific study set out to determine how much of what people worried about actually came to pass. Subjects were asked to write down their worries over an extended period of time then identify which of their imagined misfortunes did not actually happen. It turns out that 85 percent of what subjects worried about never came to pass, and with the 15 percent that did actually happen, 79 percent of subjects discovered either they could handle the difficulty better than expected, or the difficulty taught them a lesson worth learning. This means that 97 percent of what we worry about is a form of self- torture that serves no purpose and zaps away our joy.
Bottom line – worrying about something or someone is counterproductive and a total waste of time - and a lot of time at that. Another study found that the average person worries one hour and 50 minutes a day. That's almost 28 days per year or five total years of your adult life!!!
The trick is to identify when something in your life needs your attention and to put it there. Don’t neglect the problem areas. Prepare for them in the best way you know how. Use your talents and creativity to be the best version of yourself. That’s all you can do. The rest is up to the universe. We need to have faith that everything is going to work out for the best and when it doesn’t, we will be able to handle the consequences.
Be on the lookout for my next blog where I will give you some ideas and suggestions about how not to worry and what else you might find to do with those five years of your adult life.