Worry might not be what you think it is. It doesn’t just happen. Thinking causes worry. Worry starts with a single negative thought.
But it soon becomes a habit for those who continue to engage in negative thinking. It is the habit of thinking about all the worst possible outcomes.
The dictionary defines worry as a state or condition causing one to feel troubled or uneasy about some uncertain or threatening matter. What the dictionary fails to tell us is that it is the way worriers think about the uncertain or threatening matter that causes them to feel troubled or uneasy—not the uncertain or threatening matter itself.
Worry happens like this. You start thinking about a future anticipated event or situation. The event or situation can be anything. It could be a blind date, starting a new job, riding a horse for the first time, going out to dinner by yourself, flying in an airplane, deep-sea diving, divorce, home foreclosure, bankruptcy, being fired from a job, or any other life event you can possibly imagine. You begin thinking about some kind of dreadful outcome that in reality might or might not occur. That kind of thinking creates troubled or uneasy feelings that are generally known as “worry.”
Unfortunately for all worriers, worry is the most futile emotion anyone can have. Logically thinking, what does it accomplish? Nothing at all. People can make themselves “sick with worry,” but it doesn’t change anything. Worry doesn’t make anyone look good, make anyone right, control the opinions of others, or control the way situations turn out. Worry is not an action. Nothing is resolved by worrying because worrying in and of itself does nothing.
