Everyday Canvas

When a Worry is Legitimate...

Prompt: Can a legitimate worry motivate a person toward accomplishment? If yes, how?

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I think, maybe, if there is something that can be done about the thing I may be worrying about; that is if the worry is truly a legitimate one. On this subject, I can only talk for myself. Worrying in itself is a useless act, but can we ever help not to do it? I don’t think so.

Yet, if I worry enough but not too much, I prepare for the coming disaster or party or get together or the rule of an elected official I don’t like. As a Florida resident, I know well about preparedness. When Irma was about to hit us this year, I prepared the house as well as I could with all the information I had. The hurricane ended up sliding west somewhat and almost missed us. Most of my preparations were for nothing, but I am so thankful for that. I’d rather be prepared for anything than not. If I hadn’t worried just enough and had left everything to chance, the result would have been the same, but what if the hurricane hadn’t gone to the west? The thing is, with hurricanes, you never know. They can change course within hours while the preparation for them takes several days.

A worry, if it leads to problem identification is a legitimate one. In the face of a problem, if we don’t take action, our anxiety level will rise higher. If I just worry and do nothing, that will be me standing still and twiddling my thumbs, but if I act on it, I am at least doing something about the situation.

On the other hand, there are other kinds of worry--legitimate worries, too—that we can’t do much about. For example, if an asteroid hits my hometown suddenly, there is little to nothing I can do. This means, for the worry to work for a person’s favor, it has to have the time and knowledge on its side.