The Hard Lesson I Had To Learn About Worrying
Worrying is one of those things I struggle with. It's the one emotion that comes creeping in, and I have the hardest time pushing it away. Over the past few years, I've learned ways to drown out the thoughts that bring on the feeling of worrying.
One of the ways is to remind myself of the following;
Worrying will never change the outcome.
98% of the things we worry about don't end up happening.
Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe.
You know when you start worrying, and you go over all the things that could go wrong? A lot of things start with "Well...WORST case scenario this happens....."
Well here's a story of how WORST case scenario happened and although I knew it was possible, I really didn't think it was actually going to happen.
I get nervous before every single one of my workshops, years back I taught a photography workshop in North Carolina. I was super excited to be teaching there and rented out the most beautiful studio space. 3000 sq ft, with antique brick walls, a ton of natural light in a historic building. I had dreamt about this space for weeks leading up to the workshop but of course the night before, I got nervous and started worrying about things not going as planned.
I remember sitting with my sister and saying along the lines of; Well WORST case scenario... the building burns down.
We looked at each other, laughed and then went to bed.
One of the ways is to remind myself of the following;
Worrying will never change the outcome.
98% of the things we worry about don't end up happening.
Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe.
You know when you start worrying, and you go over all the things that could go wrong? A lot of things start with "Well...WORST case scenario this happens....."
Well here's a story of how WORST case scenario happened and although I knew it was possible, I really didn't think it was actually going to happen.
I get nervous before every single one of my workshops, years back I taught a photography workshop in North Carolina. I was super excited to be teaching there and rented out the most beautiful studio space. 3000 sq ft, with antique brick walls, a ton of natural light in a historic building. I had dreamt about this space for weeks leading up to the workshop but of course the night before, I got nervous and started worrying about things not going as planned.
I remember sitting with my sister and saying along the lines of; Well WORST case scenario... the building burns down.
We looked at each other, laughed and then went to bed.
The next morning we packed up, started driving to the studio when my phone rang. The owner of the studio space was on the phone sounding worried. He explained that the building was on fire and that we couldn't use the space anymore.
This was real life. WORST case scenario happened. I couldn't believe it and drove to the building just to see it blocked with fire trucks that lined the road.
To be honest, what I wanted to do was curl up in the back seat and pretend this wasn't happening. But here's the thing, when worst case scenario happens you don't really have time to freak out over it. You jump into action and figure out a solution.
We figured out a way to turn worst case scenario into best solution possible and dealt with this head on. The workshop went great, and I honestly feel like this workshop was more of a learning lesson for myself than anyone who attended that week.
I learned that there is absolutely no point in worrying about something. Because there are only two outcomes;
You can either worry about it and if something happens you deal with it.
OR you can not worry about it, and if something happens you deal with it.
Regardless, I'm telling you from experience; there is no point in allowing yourself to worry.