On Worry

I know people who prefer to plan, not worry. Plan B isn’t enough: you need plans C and D as well. They always find a way through.

            I find, myself, that a limited amount of worry in the daytime is ok. If you don’t let it take over. But night time worry, when you should be sleeping, is a waste of time. Since you’re just lying there, and can’t take a walk, you need a substitute thought realm to distract worry, and the most effective is maths.

            Now I’m hopeless at mental arithmetic. As a child I found it so boring I couldn’t concentrate at all, but you want boring to contradict all that thrilling worry, don’t you? Catastrophising is a form of entertainment. The more exciting it becomes the more all those energising worry chemicals float about your body, keeping you awake, alert, and alarmed.  

            I began with the eleven times tables because I thought I could probably just about handle the ones. Then I worked out that eleven fifteens was the same as fifteen elevens. A breakthrough! You have to check something like that a number of times. Keep it up, and put worry to bed.