Eliminating Needless Worry

How many of us worry at least once during our day? Or maybe the better question is, how many of us lie awake at night due to a never-ending list of fears or concerns in our lives? Worried about our children’s future. Worried about paying our bills. Worried about becoming sick. Worried about being approved for our vacation time. Worried about getting a raise. Worried about a current social or humanitarian issue (…I’m running out of breath here). And how many of these things are legitimate concerns preoccupying our time? Well, in our human minds and hearts, all of them! The reason we worry is our attempt to solve a problem or prepare for it - but constant worry is not only unhealthy and ineffective for the function of our brain, it can manifest into numerous health concerns throughout our bodies.

The French philosopher Michel de Montaigne said, "My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.” I believe if we all honestly evaluated how many of our preoccupations were truly life-threatening, most would realise that they likely won’t end in utter catastrophe …better yet, may never transpire into a problem at all.

And if you don’t believe Michel, well, listen to this: a paper by Frone MR, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (2000), found that ’85% of the time, people’s worries never come true, and 79% of the time, worriers handled a different negative outcome better than they thought they would’. While the accuracy of these statistics may have changed in twenty years, it hopefully puts things into a more optimistic perspective.

In my own life, I am guilty of meaningless worry (as maybe you are), and can assure you that compartmentalising your problems, as I did at the beginning of medical school, was a very ineffective way to solve future problems. At the end of my first year of medical school, I remember postponing aspects of my life (even my studies) to sort out my overseas medical elective in Nepal, as I was twiddling my fingers waiting for the medical school to approve my elective. I gave complete mental focus to the outcome of a future (potential) problem that I was certain would end in doom and gloom… as well as a massive hole in my pocket. I realised very quickly this was a very ineffective way to succeed in life and utilise my time in school. Ironically, by investing time into ‘fixing’ the problem with hypothetical outcomes (ie. worrying), I was doing the exact opposite thing I should have been doing to effectively mitigate my worries.

So how do we effectively deal with our worries? Well, the psychologists who wrote the previous paper would suggest you challenge your worries by asking why your problem ‘is NOT really a problem’? Hmm… A strategy that I believe might be a bit more advantageous, is when you feel you are continually thinking about a worry (i) stop making assumptions/predictions about the future - you have no idea what will unfold, so stop wasting your mental energy; and (ii) redirect your time and mental energy by investing it into someone else. Part of the reason I love my work, is that it can be a great distraction from my busy mind; and when I am focused on listening to someone else’s problems and am preoccupied on how to go about fixing them, that often leads to recognition of how non-catastrophic some of the problems are that I linger on and worry about.

This month, I would encourage you to stop worrying about 85% (give or take) of your predictions that aren’t going to happen, and redirect that energy and focus into reaching out to someone who has a real and immediate need in their life. And trust me, with a redirected focus, you will feel more peaceful, and you’ll feel good about it, too!

Matt 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (NKJV).