#Microblog Monday 324: Useful Worrying
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Back in August, the BBC had an article about the upside to worrying. As someone who worries a lot, I was happy to have any excuse to continue with my anxiety rather than fight it.
Worrying moves you to action. If you’re scared about something, you’re more likely to do something about it if there’s something to do. Worried about that tiger? Run from it. Worried about the direction of your country? Vote. Worrying gets you prepared. Worrying helps you problem-solve.
I like this article because it doesn’t put down worrying. Instead, it acknowledges there is a time and place for worrying, and if you’re going to worry, there are ways to make the worrying useful.
I pass this along in case you are as worried as I am right now about the state of things.
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6 comments
Under normal circumstances, I am not a big worrier. The past couple of days, I have felt like there must be something wrong with me because while my husband and most of my friends are really happy about the outcome of this election, I am relieved but still concerned.
I told my husband that I don’t think I will believe that Biden will really be our next president until he is inaugurated on January 20. It just seems like so much can happen to prevent it from happening in the next two and a half months.
That’s a super helpful article — thanks for sharing it. I like the focus on balance. You know, the Goldilocks point, as with so many things.
My guiding star these days has been Reinhold Niebuhr’s what-became-the Serenity Prayer. And it kinda fits here, in that it’s beneficial to worry about the things you can change or at least have some influence over. It’s less healthy to worry about things you cannot change or have influence over. I’m thinking that’s the balance part: discerning what to worry about.
But really, it’s not that easy because often my mind has a mind of its own and it’ll worry about what it damn well wants to.
I wonder about worry these days as i lean more into meditation and intuition. It’s cut down on the anxiety I feel about my own decisions, to quiet my mind and ask questions about the direction to go. Usually the worry comes in when I don’t trust the answers I get and then I’m right back to “TRUST”. That’s a whole other can of worms.
In the bigger picture though like the state of this election and the direction the country is headed, while I’m one the one hand pleased to be able to start completely ignoring whatever the hell 45 is being all bombastic about, I’m worried that a little under half of this country thought he was a good leader. I’m studying leadership. I can’t fucking believe people think that’s an example of good leadership. And that shit causes worry. So I make sure to educate myself, to occasionally post things on social media to educate others and to vote every single time.
My grandmother was the ultimate champion of worrying. She could (and did!) worry about anything. She’d also do this incredible, improbable chain-of-causality worrying. She would look out the door at a beautiful day as I was going out to play, and within her worry-fueled chain of events, she’d wind up worried that I’d be in a car accident and land in the hospital and my underwear wouldn’t be clean!
Suffice to say, I’m pretty good at worrying, coming from such a lineage. I do appreciate the concept that worry helps you prepare. I think that is my main approach to managing worry, so that speaks to me. Well, preparation and chocolate. I also use a lot of chocolate to manage worry!
I’m with you, I feel good when worry can translate to preparedness. Right now I am continuing to stockpile nonperishables because of rising cases in my area, and the possibility of a civil ready or domestic terrorism, or the end of democracy… Any one of those things. Zombies maybe? Zombies seem less unlikely every damn day. I had some lovely hope and joy Saturday though with the speeches. I hope we can have constructive worrying that leads to nothing too terrible!
I’m a worrier. I’ve never been able to make the “set aside a time to worry” thing work, BUT recently I have been somewhat successful about putting work worries aside—telling myself to put aside such worries “until tomorrow”. Like, just stop and think about when I’m at work (from home, but still).