This post is intended for a specific audience: the audience of people who do not possess reality-bending powers. If you have the ability to think about something and having that thing happen, then this post is not for you and I beg forgiveness for having wasted your time, oh powerful Lord.

If you do not have that ability, here's what constantly 'worrying' about something achieves you: nothing.

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada.

'Worrying' is that mental activity where you uselessly churn a pain spot in your head, considering your misfortune, how you got there, what you might have done to deserve this, how much of a piece of shit you are for not having done something earlier and so on and so forth.

'Worrying' solves nothing. It does not bring you one step closer to fixing your issue. Here's what brings you closer to fixing your issue:

  • delineating the practical action you should take to achieve it

  • taking said action

That's it. You know it, I know it, it's entirely logical. So why do most people not do it? why do the vast, vast, vast majority of people have issues they constantly 'worry' about, yet they're not accomplishing jack shit to move towards fixing them?

Part of the reason is what I detailed in The Mind Fallacy. Another part is the inadequate nature of the human stress response.

A stress response is a complex physiological mechanism that exists to make an animal more ready to face a risky situation. Consequently, it does things like increasing your heart rate and breathing frequency (making sure there's extra oxygen available), releasing glucose and other short-term energy reserves (so that they're ready for use), spinning your brain up into fast-processing mode, where you're far more concentrated on reacting to short-term-relevant information rather than anything long term.

All of this exists because billions of years of evolution have determined that it works wonders in making sure you don't get killed. Unfortunately, billions of years of evolution did not account for a modern society largely deprived of short-term dangers, leaving you equipped with a blunt short-term tool that is largely inadequate in facing long-term difficulties.

The result is that your stress response constantly misfires. You get 'worried' about things, you feel agitated and your thoughts race, and this doesn't help you because you don't need to jump out of the way of a bison or bash someone's skull in, you need to perform a rationally-determined activity that will take a long time to pay off.

So what do you do when you catch yourself 'worrying' about something? simple:

  • can you do something concrete about it now, such as planning solution steps or implementing them? then do so

  • can you not do the above? then put the thought from your mind and go do something else productive

The 'go do' part is essential, because the stress response is a deeply rooted mechanism and you can NOT think your way out of it. Only by focusing on something else will your hindbrain understand that the stressful situation it has conjured up doesn't actually exist.

The only time when worrying is warranted (note I did not put it in quotes this time) is when there is something immediate to be faced. That's what your stress response is for. Every SINGLE other time that you're 'worried', you're wasting mental and physical energy and actively keeping yourself from acting towards a solution to your problems. Stop wasting effort and start investing it.