What, me worry?

Worry is a waste of emotional energy, but many of us do it anyway.

How much time is spent stewing about things that might or might not happen? I wonder, if someone were to keep track of everything they worried about for a year, what percentage of those worries actually came to pass? And those that did, were the consequences worthy of the amount of time and emotional energy spent worrying about them?

I wonder how often our worries become self-fulfilling prophecies?

Sure, it's easy for me to point out a number of very legitimate worries in my own life. After all, I'm self-employed with no guarantee I'll have enough work to pay the bills. Health insurance is a nightmare. I'm one lawsuit or accident or illness away from bankruptcy.

I'm pretty sure this year's elections will install a government that will be hostile to business. The new President and congress are most likely going to be socialists who may damage the economy enough to dry up my business, not to mention will probably raise taxes to a level I can't sustain.

But do I lose sleep over all that? Ha! Me, lose sleep? You probably don't know me if you think that.

Sure, I think about those things sometimes. I also have a variety of concerns about my family. But I don't let any of it dominate my thoughts or interfere with my day.

I've learned this simple truth about worrying. There's absolutely nothing worry can do to help avoid something bad. If you work hard and pay attention to detail, you've already done all you can to keep the bad things you can control from happening. All that's left are the bad things you can't control. If those happen, you just deal with them. Worrying didn't help.

So now the economy has slowed considerably, and it's beginning to show in my business activity. Sure, I'm concerned, and it is only prudent to begin thinking about what options I should consider if things slow down to the point where I have to close down. But I'm not worrying or stressing over any of it.

Maybe it's time to think about getting a job to tide me through to retirement anyway. All will work itself out in time.