I haven’t written about worry specifically before, but it’s related to many topics that I’ve covered in other articles. Worry is one of those aspects of life that can be very challenging to dismiss. We are always pushing against our own boundaries and this can result in a gradual increase in our levels of worry unless we have some kind of practice to be aware of it.
In my case, worry is something I’ve actively worked on understanding and removing from my life as much as possible. Many authors, including Wayne Dyer, label worry as a kind of useless expenditure of energy. Sometimes that realization is enough for me to stop worry in its tracks. In other scenarios, sometimes worry hangs around a little longer than I’m comfortable with. As a result, I’m always looking for new ways of understanding worry and trying to defuse its power.
One approach that I’ve recently worked on has had a positive effect, perhaps because it’s new to me. We’re getting to the tax time of year, and we’re often reminded of the financial choices that we need to make. The concept of “interest” is familiar to almost everyone. When it comes to our investments, we often hope for a good return as a result of increasing interest.
Interest isn’t guaranteed – it’s something that we hope will increase, but it’s subject to all kinds of financial & market forces beyond our control. At times when we realize that a certain investment isn’t going to pan out, we choose to let go of that investment and cut our losses. It stings, for sure, but it’s necessary in order to keep the balance with the rest of our investments.
For me, I’ve realized that worry is a kind of negative investment. It will never be positive and will always take energy away from me in the present. Worry robs us from enjoying the moment and needlessly takes energy away from what we’re doing right now. Looking at worry in this way, it becomes obvious that I’d want to remove that from my experience so that I can be more present. By attaching a quantitative label to worry, it makes it easier for me to acknowledge that worry and stop it in its tracks.
Worry is different from concern. By showing concern, you can take action and plan & prepare. Showing concern involves doing something in the present to help steer yourself in a direction away from or towards the thing you’re concerned about. Worry is about inaction because it freezes you.
If you’re in the midst of tax season like me, take some time to review your “experience portfolio”. If you’ve got some worry in there, it’s probably time to get rid of it since it won’t have any positive effect in your future.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope it has resonated with you in some way.
I wonder what this button does... 