Futile Worry Uses Up A Lot Of Energy

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 3, 2 December 1947, Page 7

Futile Worry Uses Up A Lot Of Energy

(By the Department of Health) Just what are you worried about today? Is your worrying going to be productive, or is it that futile worry about events that have passed? Exceptional cases of worry may be considered as a state of mental illhealth. But worry as we commonly refer to it is not a sickness. In a large part, worry is futile and it consumes a lot of nervous energy. There are two distinct kinds of worry.' First, that which occurs before and secondly, that which occurs after the fact. The latter kind of worry is silly. Nothing can be done to change what has happened. The best way to regard it is as water over the dam, and let it go at that. Worry before the fact, on the other hand, often does much good. For instance, if you worry about catching a train, the chances of your catching it will be increased. A boy who worries about passing an examination is apt to drive himself ,to swot, and pass. The salesman, who worries about getting a contract is apt to think hard, marshal all his facts and arguments and talk himself into success. The mother who worries whether her children are warm enough is apt to get up and put another blanket over them. They call this worry, but actually it would be better termed preparation.

Physical impairment is often the result of wrong practice or indulgence, usually over a long period. Mental health often fails for similar reasons. Self-excuses, unsocial action derived from faulty thinking—these may result in mental sickness. A perfectly well person, in the mental sense, is completely poised, never lets himself get out of his own control, never loses his temper, never gets ostentatiously excited and so forth. It’s easy, then, to realise that most of us are not always in mental good health. Every effort should be made to get back on the rails. Keep an eye on your own behaviour in regard to avoidance of responsibility, escape from duty, fretfulness, undesirable feelings of inferiority* or superiority and ill temper. Maybe a visit to your doctor would help you to sort things out.