Wit & Wisdom – Corrie ten Boom

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie ten Boom

The story we tell ourselves goes something like this:

Sure, I don’t like to worry, but if I do worry, at least I won’t be taken by surprise when the hardship happens. And if I’m not taken by surprise, then I may be able to cope with hardship. And maybe I may even be able to find a way to lessen the hardship. Or find a way to avoid the hardship altogether. So yes, worrying does me some good.

But that’s an inaccurate story. And if you were able to look back at a record of all the times your worries amounted to nothing, you would know without a shadow of a doubt that worrying does not serve the purpose we like to believe it does. More often than not, we are worrying to not be caught by surprise or solve hardships that never materialize.

I like this idea of a “Catastrophe Journal.” Here’s what you do: “Every time you’re sure you’ve blown it, completely blown it, that you’re certain you’re going to get disbarred, fired, demoted—becoming friendless, homeless and futureless—write it down in your Catastrophe Journal.” This exercise will give you empirical data to use and challenge those automatic thoughts that creep up and lead to a day wasted of worry.

And just imagine what you can do with all that energy and time that use to be given to worrying?