Learning to worry well
Worry is generally seen as a negative thing. But it could also have a positive function.
Worry is an adaptive function to better solve problems and imagine creative solutions. And worrying well is a skill anyone can learn.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
- Worry. A repetitive form of thinking about the future or the past.
- Anxiety. An uncomfortable feeling of fear, apprehension, or dread, often in the gut or chest, accompanied by physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat and sweating.
- Stress. A physical response (fight or flight) to a threat, real or imagined. It’s characterised by an adrenaline and cortisol surge, and increased blood levels to your muscles.
- Good worry: it anticipates and solves problems. It is functional to worry about certain future events instead of burying your head in the sand.
- Bad worry: it is circular and habitual. It doesn’t lead to any solution, and it makes you feel scared, blocking you from seeing things clearly.
Worry is actually a product of imagination. If we didn’t have an imagination, we wouldn’t worry.
Worry and imagination are built on remembering things from the past and projecting ourselves into the future.
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They strongly influence our decisions. Therefore we should take the time to consider what our personal values are.
Just like the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, where the preferred porridge has to be neither too hot nor too cold, and the preferred bed has to be neither too soft nor too hard, we have to find our sweet spot which has the right amount of stress, anxiety, challenge and thrill, while not being paralyzing or life-sucking.
Demanding jobs carry with them worry, stress and anxiety, but not having anything to worry about in a job is also detrimental to our well-being.
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