Worrying to Wait

Let me start this one by a quote that sums up my idea.

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.” (Winston Churchill)

How many times have you felt like you were in a rat race except instead of running to get through the race, it was worrying that got you through the race? Worrying propels you forward leading into dead end after dead end. You finally take your last step out of pure exhaustion and you’re at the end. But what you don’t realize is that it isn’t the end, but another beginning.

Does this sound familiar? Always worrying about things that don’t happen or going from day to day worrying about so many things: jobs needing to get done, worrying about what comes next, or that you can’t get everything done.

But think about this, what does worrying accomplish? Does it make you work faster? No. Does it make you work with less mistakes? It’s quite the opposite. Does it help your health? Don’t make me laugh! The list goes on.

Let me shout this out, “I’m a worrier!”

I know what it’s like to worry about things that don’t happen or worry throughout my day trying to get everything done. I’ve had people tell me I’m going to give myself an ulcer by the way I worry and stress out about things. It’s part of me but let me say this, it doesn’t have to control me!

Lately, I’ve had large projects due for work, back-to-back-to-back-to-back for weeks. The first couple weeks I failed in not letting stress control me. I was wound and tired when I got home from work those nights. Finally these last couple weeks I’ve noticed a shift in thoughts. I worked hard on projects, but even as the deadline was looming I didn’t panic. It was a very nice change of pace. Every week, I met the deadlines whether I stressed/worried about the projects, or just worked.

Life is funny. It’s always throwing events, issues, and things you can’t control at you and I. It entices us to get nervous, worried, or become an emotional wreck about things. It’s like waving a treat in front of a dog’s nose. The dog would jump at the treat every time, like we jump at getting stressed. It’s a natural reaction for many of us at this point. But that’s not how it’s supposed to be.

I was praying tonight begging God to help me know what to do about my knee. I have my knee specialist appointment in a little less than two days time. When I left last time, I was told the next option was surgery if I couldn’t fix it through physical therapy. Since then I’ve learned surgery is not good, so I’m in more of a quandary. After about a year of physical therapy, my knee hasn’t been healed yet. As I was praying the Hoover Dam of thoughts came barreling into my mind. Have I given God enough time? What about the experience my neighbor went through? What about complications? Hit the brakes! 

That treat was dangling in front of my nose, but this time I resisted that “treat” of worry. I breathed and gave it all to God knowing He will light the path that I need to travel.

It won’t be easy breaking the habit of numerous years of worry if you’re like me, but it can be done! Why worry about things to come? You can plan and make sure you’re prepared, but what will be accomplished if you worry about something that has yet to come to pass?

“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.” (Erma Bombeck)

Keeping the perspective,
Lauren