Worry – as a habit (not an emotion)

.....sure as night will follow day, most things I worry about, never happen anyway.

'Crawling Back To You’ from ‘Wildflowers’ © 1994 Tom Petty

I love this Tom Petty lyric because it is so true - especially in today’s fast pace of life where we can get caught up worrying about things very easily.  Worry kind of sneaks up and catches us unaware.  Before you know it you can be completely consumed worrying about a situation and the basic things we do to take care of ourselves (like sleeping and eating properly) go out of the window. 

And the crazy thing is that nothing positive comes out of worrying.  Zero benefit!

Think about it. On a practical level worrying about a situation does not help it reach a good outcome.  And on a personal level worrying is a complete waste of your energy – physically, mentally and emotionally.   Worry creates an illusion of purpose because when you are feeling helpless in a situation you seem to at least be doing something – worrying!  But by engaging you like this it has already played the trick of pretending to give a benefit whilst in reality it is draining your energy.  So in fact it is taking you into a weaker state for handling the situation.   

The good news is that worry is a habit that can be broken.  Start viewing worry as a habit rather than an emotion.

The next time you feel it creeping up on you try this out:

• Become conscious of doing it - if you catch yourself worrying - STOP. 
• Ask yourself – am I doing all I can to help the situation? 
• If the answer is yes, then – LET GO – for if you are doing all you can, then you can do no more. 
• If the answer is no, then by all means up the ante and do whatever else you can to help. 
• Ultimately you will reach a position when you are doing all you can.
• The more you practice the above, the easier it becomes.

Try not to worry.  It is of no value to you - just a waste of energy. 

And your energy is valuable.