Chris Krug: Worry is a (mostly) wasted emotion

There isn’t a single person among us who is without worry. On some level, we all worry about things. Some worries are small. Others are big. And there are plenty in between. I’ll be the first to admit that worry has some value. If you sense that something might be awry, it likely is, and your intuition is queuing you to a potential problem that likely has some meaningful consequence attached to it. I would worry about someone that doesn’t worry. I’m sure even Bobby McFerrin, who sang “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” which began as an anthem to positivity and became – over time – an insipid Muzak nightmare, surely worried about something. Probably was about the taxes he had to pay after the entire world started whistling that improbably successful song and his income unexpectedly ballooned ahead of forecasted tax payments. But worry for worry’s sake is thoroughly worthless, and too many people whose paths I have crossed have fallen into the depths of the worry pit for far too long. Worry, if left unaddressed, can serve no meaningful purpose. What’s missed by focusing on the worry far often can be greater than whatever it was we were worried about in the first place. Which allows me to offer one oversimplified thought: Worry is a (mostly) wasted emotion. If you find yourself worrying about something – terrific. Of course, it’s not terrific that something is bothering enough that you are worrying about it. But it is a good thing to have identified the previously unforeseen issue that has risen to the rank of worry. Worry is natural. The best worry. The best have things to worry about. But the best, well, they don’t wallow in worry. Do yourself a supreme favor if you find yourself in a state of worry: Get to the root of that worry as soon as possible. Treat whatever it is that you are worried about as if it is real and not imagined. Don’t allow a funny feeling about something to stew on the back burner. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that it will sort itself out or melt away over time. The unresolved worry grows. And grows. AND GROWS. Soon, worry can become all-consuming. Shortly thereafter, this massive worry eclipses all other worries. From there, emotional paralysis sets in. We are unable to resolve our worries much of the time because they have evolved into something real and become much larger. In fact, our worry has become an actual problem. And we often find that it has become an unresolved problem at that. Had we stripped away the worry from the start – which sounds easy, but can be very difficult, in all honesty – to isolate the problem when it was smaller, we could have avoided a fair amount of the worry. We may not have been able to solve the problem ourselves, but the identification of the problem with some ideas about solving it often leads to an actual resolution. Sometimes we can resolve it on our own. Oftentimes, we’ll need some help. Haven’t mastered that technique just yet? I wouldn’t worry about it. Seriously.

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 As always, stay classy. Chris Krug is president of the progressive media communications firm No Limit Agency* in Chicago. No Limit is a full-service agency whose practice focuses on strategy, brand management, creative campaigns and delivering unparalleled earned placement in the media. No Limit Agency works with some of the best-known and fastest-growing brands in North America, and that’s not a coincidence. Contact Krug by calling 312-526-3996 or via email at [email protected].