Don’t Believe Worried Thoughts; Worried Thoughts Are Notoriously Inaccurate!
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows but only empties today of its strength.”
— Charles Spurgeon
“People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.”
— George Bernard Shaw
“Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.”
— William Shakespeare
Worry is a reflection of a lack of faith that life will be good to us, a lack of faith that God and life are in control and will make our lives full and vibrant. Worry reflects a lack of faith in oneself and in other people to do things that need to be done when they need to be done, and a lack of trust that we’ll be able to deal with difficulties when they surface in our lives.
Worrying comes when we think of negative future possibilities. It’s that simple — we spend time and energy thinking about negative things that could happen, not that have happened. And therefore the energy that was expending usually is wasted because those negative things tend not to come about after all.
Worrying feeds fears and doubts. Worrying wastes time and consumes energy. Worrying weakens ambition and breeds inaction. Worrying will cripple our confidence, faith, and ability to reason. Worrying kills the ability to think big and reveals an inability to control one’s thoughts. Worrying is the first step towards failure and limits our potential.
And yet, ironically, worrying is at times necessary, can be a protection, and is found within everybody. Unfortunately, the ability to discipline and train the mind how to stop worrying is found in so few, and yet, it is so important.
The purpose of this article will be well comprehensible by the below psychology professor story!
Once, a psychology professor walked around his classroom full of students holding a glass of water with his arm straightened out to the side. He asked his students, “How heavy is this glass of water?”
The students started to shout out guesses — ranging anywhere from 4 ounces to one pound.
The professor replied, “The absolute weight of this glass isn’t what matters while I’m holding it. Rather, it’s the amount of time that I hold onto it that makes an impact.
“If I hold it for, say, two minutes, it doesn’t feel like much of a burden. If I hold it for an hour, its weight may become more apparent as my muscles begin to tire. If I hold it for an entire day — or week — my muscles will cramp and I’ll likely feel numb or paralyzed with pain, making me feel miserable and unable to think about anything aside from the pain that I’m in.
“In all of these cases, the actual weight of the glass will remain the same, but the longer I clench onto it, the heavier it feels to me and the more burdensome it is to hold.”
The class understood and shook their heads in agreement.
The professor continued to say, “This glass of water represents the worries and stresses that you carry around with you every day. If you think about them for a few minutes and then put them aside, it’s not a heavy burden to bear. If you think about them a little longer, you will start to feel the impacts of the stress. If you carry your worries with you all day, you will become incapacitated, prohibiting you from doing anything else until you let them go.
“Put down your worries and stressors. Don’t give them your entire attention while your life is passing you by.
“Let go of things that are out of your control. Don’t carry your worries around with you everywhere you go, as they will do nothing but bring you down. ‘Put your glass down’ each night and move on from anything that is unnecessarily stressing you out. Don’t carry this extra weight into the next day.”
I was reading the below story of Pam Winter where she discussed Toxic Femininity, Hope you all will like too!
Thank you for reading Shameem Anwar and your precious time!
