Worrying Is Like...
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
In last week’s blog post, I shared a sentence that helps to calm me when I feel overwhelmed when working. There are actually a few sentences that help to recenter me when things feel chaotic, and I’d like to share those comforting sentences in the weeks ahead. This week’s helpful sentence is, “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”
“Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe,” is a quote that is attributed to Mark Twain. The first time I heard it, the ring of truth bellowed in my head. I started to see at that moment that worrying was just wasted time and energy. And then my brain created a logic chart. The moment I notice that I’m worrying, I need to ask myself, “Is this something I can do anything about?” If it is, then I calmly allow myself a couple of minutes to think through the issue that I predict might happen in the future and brainstorm how I would most likely deal with it. If I can’t control the thing my brain is worrying about, then I tell my mind to stop paying a debt I don’t owe and that command disrupts the unconscious worrying almost every time.
If you spend a lot of time worrying, my hope is that this sentence helps you as it has so often helped me. Worrying is dealing with an imaged future that may not and probably won’t ever actually happen. There are pursuits in the present that are more worthy of my time and energy, and I know the same is true in your life.
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Calmly Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team