Do You Worry?

I am so excited! I am honored to present you with my featured guest blogger today, my friend Dorothy. She writes for us today on the topic of worry-who can’t relate to that? I assure you that you will be moved by her thoughtful, honest, and heartfelt blog post today. Feel free to leave a comment and you will be entered to win a Gratitude Signature Leather Necklace.

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Worry is lousy, isn’t it? I spent a great deal of time in my late 20’s and early 30’s with that horrid emotion and it wouldn’t make me feel very good right now to know exactly how much time I wasted in this life that God has given to me on WORRY. My husband and I dealt with infertility for many years and practically every waking moment during those years was plagued with worry. I used to read books to find reasons “why?” I prayed. I cried. I ate too much. I joined an online support group to worry with others who were in the same boat. I felt really horrible about myself. I felt so out of control. In the midst of it all I used to wish for it (the pain, the suffering, the worry) to be over. I prayed for a pregnancy – for a baby. I prayed for God to give me what I wanted. I wanted God to give me answers and tell me why I had to suffer so much.

None of the reasons why I was suffering became apparent until later. God had bigger plans for us. We have two beautiful children that we adopted from Russia and we can imagine our lives NO OTHER WAY. It all makes sense now…but then…I just didn’t get it and I was angry and upset and CONSUMED WITH WORRY.

All those precious moments I spent worrying….I can never get them back. Ever. I didn’t really find ways to cope properly back then with worry. For me – this came with more life experience and time spent with myself – in deep thought.

We all worry. It might not always be about HUGE things – like I am talking about above. It might be about a ton of little junk too, right?

When is the last time you worried? Was it a few moments ago? A few hours ago? Yesterday? Are you still worrying? How did/does that worry make you feel? Not so great, right? How much time did you spend worrying? Time wasted….but you know that, right?

We are all busy people. Many of us comment, perhaps daily, that there are “just not enough hours in the day.” So – why would we spend any of our very precious time with worry? It doesn’t get us very far, does it? It makes us feel uneasy, maybe even ill, it might give us stress headaches (migraines come from it, I know first hand). It makes us cranky and short tempered. It makes us cry. It makes us EAT. It makes us feel kind of out of control, doesn’t it? It keeps our mind off of other things going on around us – it keeps us from LIVING IN THE MOMENT. It keeps us preoccupied. That thing – worry – it’s just no good for us.

But we’re human. Human. Worry has a way of worming itself right on into our minds….a lot. Depending on your personality – this might happen to you quite often throughout your day with things as little as “Am I going to get the kids to school on time?!” or things as big as “I hope this spot on my face is not cancerous”.

What is important is for us to realize that worry is doing us no good. We can’t stop it from coming into our thoughts but we can use strategies to fight it and stop it from affecting us physiologically and mentally. We can use strategies to fight it and keep every precious moment of our lives focused on better things instead of on WORRY.

Here are some strategies I have success with when I am worrying and want to gain control over how the precious moments in my life are used:

• I pray about it. I give it up to God. He is there no matter what. He is there anytime I need Him. I find great comfort in this. He might not answer me right away – but the answer will come. I might just have to wait a little bit.
• I talk to good friends about it. A burden shared is a burden halved.
• I count my blessings. Just taking moments each day to count my blessings is enough to bring great happiness into my life and worry might not even be able to get in.
• I take action! This could mean educating myself about health matters, seeking professional assistance or it could be as simple as just readjusting a routine. This gives me a great feeling of being in control and does wonders for getting rid of that foul worry.

“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever” – Mohandes K. Gandhi

“Sorrow looks back, worry looks forward, faith looks up.” – author unknown

Gaining control over worry takes work. If you have never really tried in earnest to do this, give yourself some time to get used to the fight. Worry is a strong, strong emotion and the fight is NOT easy. In time, you will find a strategy or strategies that work best for YOU and the fight will become easier and easier. Remember that this fight will ALWAYS take a very conscious effort on your part. If you do not consciously fight the worry – it will win. Sometimes I don’t make that conscious effort – and guess what? Worry wins. It wins. I’m still losing precious moments from my life….but these lost moments are much fewer and much farther between than they used to be……

Don’t let worry take anymore precious moments from your life. Life really is too short to waste anymore time on that emotion. Fight the good fight. Don’t let worry win.

Pray. Be grateful. And……..don’t worry.

Dorothy

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