“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook
How many times have you worried about something? If you are like most people, you probably said, “a lot.” Me, too. There have been times in my life when I worried so much about something that I got physically sick. The Healthline newsletter lists 12 areas of the body that can be affected by chronic anxiety. They are:
– a sense of doom
– depression
– a pounding heart
– loss of libido
– extreme fatigue
– increase in blood pressure
– panic attacks
– headaches
– irritability
– breathing problems
– upset stomach
– muscle aches and other pains
I don’t know about you, but I really would prefer NOT to have any of those things going on in my body. So, what are we to do instead?
Well, from an intellectual standpoint, we could take comfort in knowing the numbers. In the mid-1990’s, Drs. Gerald Wells and Adrian Matthews did some research and concluded that 85% of the things we worry about will NEVER HAPPEN. Not only that: their research showed that 79% of the time we will effectively handle the remaining 15%. In other words, we spend our lives worrying about certain things 100% of the time, when only 3% of the things will ever become an issue in our lives that we cannot handle effectively.
Many times, the items that comprise the 3% are things over which we have NO CONTROL. (Hey, after all, meteors can strike my car any day of the week – but why worry about them, as I have no control over their trajectory?)
From the Faith-based standpoint, I love what the Bible says about Worry in the twelfth chapter of the book of Luke in verses 25 and 26:
“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”
At the end of the day, all any of us can do is our best. There will be times that we will worry about something. The important part is that we DECIDE NOW how we are going to start worrying LESS. Whether you choose to take comfort in the statistics above, the verses I mentioned, or something else, I want you to choose to do something to start lowering your Worry Factor. By doing that, you will be better equipped in your life’s journey to handle challenges with more strength, which will make you…
…LESS of a WORRIER, and…
..MORE of a WARRIOR in your life.
You can do it. I believe in you.
