What is worry? Worry is thinking about problems or unpleasant things that might make you feel unhappy and frightened. Why do we worry if it makes us feel bad? It can be tempting to want to overthink when things are not going according to plan. We like to come up with as many solutions as possible even when we don’t have all the information. We think about our problems all day long and worry about them as much as possible. We feel like if we just think hard enough or long enough, something will come up that will fix everything. The truth is that not knowing makes us feel very uncomfortable. When we don’t have all the answers, we feel lost and tempted to ruminate about things that make us sad. We worry about the future because in some kind of way, we want to have control over it. We want to know what is going to happen and see if we can fix it someway somehow. It seems like our mind likes to worry, especially at night when we are trying to go to sleep.  

Does worrying even help at all? Some people think that worrying is a waste of time. That most of the things that we worry about don’t even end up happening. Worrying puts stress on our body which has many detrimental consequences.  So, the question is, is it good to worry? Well, it depends. I wish there was a better answer.  

Worrying can be good when it’s motivating you to do better. For example, if a person is overweight and they go to the doctor, and the doctor tells them that they have to lose weight or their health will suffer, worry can be a great motivator to make a change. As they start worrying about all the negative things that might happen, that can give them the push that they need to change their lifestyle and become healthier. 

Worrying can be a bad thing when you don’t have control over the situation that you are trying to change. For example, if a pipe bursts in your bathroom, there are only so many things that you can do unless you are a plumber. You might make a hole in the wall to assess the damage. You might try different things to fix it. If the damage is too big, the only thing that you might be able to do is to cut the water in the house and call a plumber. If this incident happened at night, the plumber might not answer so you can only leave a voicemail and hope that he will call you back soon. You might spend all night long worrying about the problem and the money that you will have to spend to fix it. Maybe you didn’t eat dinner because you were really worried about the problem. Maybe you isolated yourself from your family because you couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying. The next morning the plumber calls you back, comes to the house and fixes the problem in less than 15 minutes. Charges you $250 and the whole thing is working once again. Was the burst pipe worth all the anguish, lack of sleep, and isolation from your family? Probably not. Worrying about the pipe did not fix anything. It just added more turmoil to your life and kept you from spending quality time with your family.  

Worrying about future consequences can be a great motivator when you want to make changes involving you. However, it is important to know if you are worrying about situations or people you have no control over. Remember that you only have control over yourself. That is it! We can only make changes in ourselves. Worrying can be taxing to the body and leave you feeling drained by just ruminating over things you can’t change. Do as much as you can, but after that just let it go. Your life will be more peaceful and less stressful if you do that!