I recently spoke with a friend about a serious financial crisis he was going through. Worry was a constant, draining battle, he declared with a sigh.
Worry is a strange creature, much like the caterpillars in the picture above. It builds its nest, using our mind to feed it’s growing community of negative thoughts. As worry spreads, it consumes more and more of us. It consumes our energy, our thoughts, and our life. Worry brings about nothing but death.
I am in process of finishing The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz. While reading, I stumbled upon a sentence which caught my attention, “Action cures fear.” Schwartz then goes on to define fear as, “worry, tension, embarrassment and panic all stemming from a mismanaged, negative imagination.” It therefore makes sense that action would indeed also cure worry.
I tossed this sentence around in my head wondering what it would look like and how curing worry could possibly be this simple.
I then remembered my friend and the solution he shared which helped him rid the nest of worry from his head. He did so by imagining the very worst that could happen. When he did this, he was able to stop worrying and start moving toward a solution to his problem.
The reason it worked? He realized the worst that could happen was actually not that bad.
As I thought through my friend’s story of conquering his worry, I realized this was a perfect example of how action does indeed cure worry.
After facing the worst, my friend was able to look his worry square in the eye and say, “Ah-hah! I found you out. You’re actually not very scary after all!” From there he was able to take needed action and get his finances under control.
Until that point, worry was nesting in his mind with gusto, and he was in turn paralyzed by it.
Action cures fear. Worry is simply fear from mismanaged, negative thinking.
So, do what my friend did. Face the worst that could happen in your mind and then move on to steps of action! Make the call, take the test, ask the questions, get the help, face the past, or do whatever you need to do to embrace your future with confidence!
Question: What action can you take today to keep worry from nesting in your head?
