You know that feeling when you’ve worried so hard about something ‘not’ happening that when it doesn’t happen, you think, “See? My worrying worked!” Like some kind of mental rain dance for disaster prevention.
But here’s the deal—worry is an overenthusiastic intern who makes a lot of noise but doesn’t actually ‘do’ anything. It tricks us into thinking we’re in control when, in reality, all it does is waste our mental energy and raise our blood pressure.
Let’s be real: If worrying actually ‘stopped’ bad things from happening, none of us would ever get a flat tire, run out of coffee, or say something weird in a discussion thread. Yet here we are.
The truth? It’s not the worrying that kept disaster at bay—it’s just that the thing you feared ‘wasn’t actually going to happen in the first place’. Or maybe you took some ‘actual’ steps to prevent it (you know, like setting an alarm instead of just lying awake worrying you’ll oversleep).
This is something I help clients work through all the time—learning how to recognize when their brain is running a ‘Worry Simulation’ instead of actually problem-solving. Because worry loves to ‘feel’ productive, but it’s about as useful as carrying an umbrella inside your house because you’re afraid of getting rained on. Looks responsible, does nothing.
Instead, let’s focus on what ‘does’ help—action. If something is within your control, take a step. If it’s not? Then you just freed up some brain space for better things.
Like figuring out why you put the milk in the pantry again.