Is Worry Worth It?

                                                                 
                                                       WORRY?
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The French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne who stated “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened” may have really been onto something!

To worry is to ruminate. Ruminate comes from the Latin word Ruminari which means “to chew the cud.” [1] In our minds we can see that cow chewing and chewing and chewing on the same piece of cud till it is nothing but a liquid mush. Disgusting eh? That is what happens in our minds. We ruminate on negative events, things that have a small likelihood to occur, or things we can’t change until our brains become a liquid mess.
So how is rumination productive? The answer is IT IS NOT.

The late Author, Earl Nightingale [2], estimates that:

• 40% of the things you worry about will never happen
• 30% of the things you worry about couldn’t be changed by all the worrying in the world.
• 12% of your worries are needless worries about your health.
• 10% of your worries are petty, miscellaneous things.
• 8% of your worries are about real and legitimate concerns.

This means 92% of our worrying is a complete waste of our time causing useless stress and potentially all the negative effect that accompany.

Reframe those worries and rest your mind. 

​[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruminate
[2] The Essence of Success by Earl Nightingale, 2007