Aware of Does Not Equal Worry About

Or, for my fellow techies, Aware of != Worry About.

I was walking down the very steep, narrow street that leads to the cafe where my Monday Morning Writer’s Group meets when I saw a tourist ambling down the middle of it. I often do also as there is vehicle traffic but it is occasional and the sidewalks are very narrow.

It occurred to me that I was aware of the possibility of a car (or ambulance! that has happened) driving up, but I wasn’t worried about it.

And it clicked something in my brain. Being aware of a risk is useful, but worry mostly is not. Let’s look at it, using selected definitions from Merriam-Webster.com:

intransitive verb: to feel or experience concern or anxiety : FRET

Concern or anxiety, that’s not too bad on its own.

noun mental distress or agitation resulting from concern usually for something impending or anticipated : ANXIETY

Mental distress or agitation, yikes. I’ve experienced a lot of mental distress and I’m not a fan.

And what I sometimes do, is “worry about” things. Worrying about is an ongoing activity, and that is what tips it over the edge to something that isn’t helpful.

This is a great lesson for me because I tend to “worry about” things more than is necessary. So any time I can reframe worry into something else, that can help me release the worry. Go away, worry! I’m going to enjoy my day.

I’m not going to tell you that worry is a useless emotion and you should never have it. It can be very frustrating to read about how worry is a useless emotion when it seems to come so automatically. I know, I’ve been there.

Finding ways to redirect it is helpful. It takes practice. It is great when little lessons like this start to come naturally.