Why Worry?

If you tend to worry, you can relate to this sentence. “There were many terrible things in my life, and most never happened.” A study discovered that 85% of the things we worry about never happen. So why do it?

Instead of worrying, I invite you to consider changing worry into wonder.

Why worry when you can wonder?

Some view curiosity as a bad thing. You may associate it with a nosey or investigative relative or neighbor who is always asking questions or in your business may come to mind. You may even think curious kids are annoying as they repeatedly pose questions.

I invite you to think of curiosity differently if you hold any of those beliefs.

Next time you catch yourself worrying about something, think wonder instead. If you are playing possible bad scenarios that make you worry, remember why worry when you can wonder.

Being worried

Worry is a common emotion when you feel uncertain about the future. If you hold the state long enough, it can transmute into anxiety and get physician symptoms.

Your stomach may get upset, you may start perspiring, or you may even visibly shake. All of these symptoms appear because you are thinking worried thoughts. You may even create a story around a situation.

Why torture yourself with worry? It may be a creation you learned from family members. Or perhaps you have negative memories (history) regarding the situation, and now you expect bad results.

Regardless of the reason, your brain is wired with the ‘worry’ response. And if you are not consciously noticing it, it can create health issues. When you are worried, your body releases stress hormones that, over time, can harm your physical body.

So, why worry when you can wonder?

Life Experience

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I concentrated on healing my body, mind, and spirit. With that in mind, worried thoughts were not welcomed. I knew that worry, fear, and doubt would produce hormones in my body that did not promote healing.

It may be natural to worry while navigating a life-threatening illness. You may stress whether the treatments are working or about the financial strains you are facing.

You may worry about your family members. Worry about the strain you place on them, or what if the worst happened? It can be an endless litany of worrying ‘what if’ scenarios of possible worst outcomes. This reaction can be a natural response, yet it is unfavorable to healing.

Being Curious

So, what did I do instead? I leaned on curiosity. I became curious about life. The main question I asked when I was diagnosed was, “I wonder where all this will lead?” “I wonder what I will learn in the process. I wonder how this period will shape my life”.

These “I wonder” questions were meant to keep me in the energy of expecting good to come from the situation. I trained my brain to ask open-ended questions about my future in a curious way.

Instead of worrying about the uncertainty of my future, I wondered how it all would evolve.

I became curious about how life was unfolding. I started seeing each day with a sense of wonder. And daily ask, “I wonder who I will meet/ what I will learn/ how I will change someone’s day, etc.”

Just like worry releases a chemical in your body, so does curiosity. When you explore with curiosity, your brain sends dopamine, the happy hormone, to your body. A good reason not to worry, when you can wonder.

Rewiring Your Brain

Neuroscientists have a saying,” Neurons that fire together wire together.” This means that the more neural circuits in your brain, the stronger the circuit becomes. So, by repeating my sense of wonder, I repatterned my brain to think ‘wonder” instead of “worry.”

I wanted the happy chemical to run through my organs and promote healing.

You can do the same. You can retrain your brain to wonder instead of worrying about the outcome.

Worry and wonder (curiosity) serve the same purpose. That is, it is an emotion felt about the outcome of an event in the future. Yet as you worry or wonder, your results will be different. You can worry yourself into being sick, or you can wonder yourself into health.

Both release chemicals into your body, with worry you feel closed in or contractive. And by being curious or wondering, you feel expansive and full of hope and opportunity.

Believing in You!