Over-worrying.

Concern is a natural thing. I am always concerned. I am concerned about my family, my students, my job, myself. I am learning not to worry though. Even though it has taken me 50 years to figure it out (I'm kind of a slow learner) I have FINALLY thought about it and realized that no matter how much I worry about something or someone, it does no good. All it does is hurt me. I didn't say I didn't have concern, but concern does not equal worry. Let's look at dictionary definitions of those two words.

Worry -verb  to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret

Concern -verb  to relate to; be connected with; be of interest or importance to; affect.

Even though I think we commonly mix these two up, one is obviously more disruptive to a healthy lifestyle than the other. Worry causes negativity, concern is generally a positive thing. Hmm. Positive/negative? Which to be, which to do? It seems obvious when you view it in those terms.

I don't know when I learned to worry so much, but it happened early on and stayed with me for - as I said, over 50 years. I guess when you start to get gray hair, sometimes you learn that life is shorter than you thought it was going to be, and that you need not waste those precious times in negative pursuits. It is my belief that worrying is a habit.


A habit is something that is repeated involuntarily.

Habits are developed because you have practiced doing them so often that you just start doing them without being aware of it. Worrying can become a mental habit. If worrying is a problem, it is likely just because you, like me, have practiced doing it for so long that you have to become mentally aware that you are doing it before you can break the bad habit. How do you gain that awareness? Well, when you have done all the problem solving you can do before the event and there is nothing more to do about it and you continue to fret about it, it just causes stress.


Of course it is natural for the mind to periodically be reminded about the upcoming worry inducing event (a test, an unpleasant encounter with someone you don't want to face) until it is over. But if you’ve done all you can reasonably do in preparation for it, to continue to allow yourself to constantly think about it merely causes more interference with the rest of your life. So, although the worrying here may be natural, it is not helpful.

In short, save worry and start living life the way it was meant to be lived. Concern for other people is natural, worry is unnecessary.
"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy." ~Leo Buscaglia