Some fleshy trivia to feast on:

Did you know some body parts are redundant?

Take wisdom teeth. My extensive research (i.e. Googling) tells me that back in the days of cave dwellers and mammoth chasers, wisdom teeth were useful for grinding tough plants and chewing raw meat.

Nowadays, not so much. Especially as our jaws get smaller.

The tailbone is another example. Tailbones are long lost remnants from when our ancestors had tails. 

Another redundant body part?

The male nipple. As far as science can tell, nipples serve no purpose for men.

So far, so good.

But get this:

I’d posit that worry is exactly the same. 

Your worry, my worry and everyone else’s worry is redundant. It serves no purpose.

This might seem like an off-the-wall statement, but let’s consider the evidence:

1. Does worrying help us prepare for when disaster strikes?

Well, I don’t think it does. I’m not saying we don’t need to prepare sometimes. But preparation doesn’t require worry, nor is it aided by worry.

2. Does worrying stop disaster from striking in the first place? Is it preventative in some way?

Well, how would that work? Worrying is just repetitive thinking. As far as I can see, there’s no mechanism linking what happens in my head with what happens in the world. Worrying about whether I’ll miss my flight has no bearing on whether I will.

3. Does worrying show we’re a responsible, selfless, loving, caring human?

I don’t see the link here either. 

In fact, when I cast my mind back to some of my biggest worries, I can see how my worry was really all about me (i.e. my own fears or my own need to be in control), even if I told myself I was worrying about someone else. 

4. Does worrying motivate us to take action?

Sure, it can do. I’ll give you this one. 

But what if it didn’t need to? What if we could live our lives from a place of inspired, aligned and authentic action, rather than using worry as our compass? Wouldn’t that be a more peaceful way to go through life? Wouldn’t that make worry redundant too?

(by the way – if I’ve missed a reason why worry isn’t redundant, hit reply and let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts and explore this more)

If someone had told me three or four years ago that my constant fretting was redundant, self-defeating or just my ego talking, I would’ve felt misunderstood. Tough love like that might’ve even come across as dismissive or out of touch.

Yet here I am, three or four years later, with my worry levels at an all-time low.

Not at zero, mind you. 

But night and day vs how they used to be. 

And I can honestly say the biggest thing that’s allowed me to turn down the dial on my own catastrophising, self-doubt and worry is realising my worry is surplus to requirements. 

It was quite the bombshell when I saw this too.

Something else:

There’s one way that worry DOES differ from my left nipple.

I was born with my left nipple. But I wasn’t born with my worry.

No-one is born with worry.

Worry is a behaviour we learn when we start to create stories and attach meaning to random events. 

Scroll up and you’ll see four of these stories in action.

The good news?

What’s learnt can be unlearnt. What’s added can be subtracted.

If you’d like to get started:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com