Timely Truth for an Overworked Worry Wart

Risk, fear and worry  

by Seth Godin Jul 24, 2012  

They're not the same.  

Risk is all around us. When we encounter potential points of failure, we're face to face with risk. And nothing courts risk more than art, the desire to do something for the first time--to make a difference.  

Fear is a natural reaction to risk. While risk is real and external, fear exists only in our imagination. Fear is the workout we give ourselves imagining what will happen if things don't work out.  

And worry? Worry is the hard work of actively (and mentally) working against the fear. Worry is our effort to imagine every possible way to avoid the outcome that is causing us fear, and failing that, to survive the thing that we fear if it comes to fruition.  

If you've persuaded yourself that risk is sufficient cause for fear, and that fear is sufficient cause for worry, you're in for some long nights and soon you'll abandon your art out of exhaustion. 

On the other hand, you can choose to see the three as completely separate phenomena, and realize that it's possible to have risk (a good thing) without debilitating fear or its best friend, obsessive worry.  

Separate first, eliminate false causation, then go ahead and do your best work. 

So timely. My worries and my fears need a permanent vacation, especially now as our family faces even more uncertainty. Hopefully this will help others as well. 


~vbb

I really do want…

"I really do want world peace." 

Replace this line of Sandra Bullock's character from the end of “Miss Congeniality” with this one:

"It really is all about letting go of pride and trusting in God's Greatness enough to allow Him to gently teach me and help me Do whatever is next to help me become like Him."

Sometimes you get to the place where you really believe what you once thought crazy.

~vbb

More Tossing

 Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.

Tony Schwartz, author, speaker, and founder of The Energy Project

I think I found this on Facebook a while ago, and I’ve kept it around until I could really make it mine by writing about it.

“Let go of certainty” speaks as though from Him who also said, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee” Psalm 55:22. More tossing. Knowing that the Lord is a good catch gives me hope of release.

“The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides.” This tells me that I don’t need to carry the burdens that keep me from His promised joy and wonder and love in life.

“The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.” Can there be any greater challenge? Any greater burden? Anything that feels less certain?

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. Moroni 7:48

If you get to a place where you find it difficult even to keep breathing. That place where everything feels overwhelming, and everywhere you turn you falter no matter how good or right your life should be.

If you get to that place, stop. Stop asking. Stop planning. Stop evaluating. Stop doing. Release. Reach out. Re-connect. Toss out the certainties that weigh us down and seek instead to be filled with His love.

The ultimate challenge is to Trust Him and sincerely and Faithfully reach out to Him in the midst of our struggles and our burdens and feel God’s love for us. Allow Him to sustain you, and heed His tender guiding hand as you learn and grow.

But start with tossing.

~vbb

Tossing Stones

 Hmmmmm . . .

Do I have enough?

...OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little. =]

~vbb

. . . AND pressing on

In case anyone else is having trouble pressing on as I have, here's a few thoughts from my journal yesterday that might help.

I feel numb with frustration. I feel so stuck here right now… more humility is needed I suppose. I feel like I’m praying for the wrong thing. There are so many aspects of every situation. I don’t think God wants solutions to be easy. He wants us to understand the depth and nuances within each situation. Sometimes recording the details of events is so overwhelmingly tedious. I tire of facing those details each day, and I dread the discipline of rehashing them here.

            OK, and coming to church should help too.... [I was traveling to church by subway while writing this. The rest I wrote that night at home.]

            It did. Well, the opening song at Seminary Graduation finally put me over the top. Sometimes you’re just so miserable that everything just looks grey and you feel so numb and caught up in an unending cycle of hurt and confusion and frustration. That’s when you just hold on and pray until the light and the peace come. For some reason that came to me today through the hymn “Let Us All Press On” as the opening song in the graduation ceremonies. 

Let Us All Press On

1.               Let us all press on in the work of the Lord, That when life is o'er we may gain a reward; In the fight for right let us wield a sword, The mighty sword of truth.

[Chorus] Fear not, though the enemy deride; Courage, for the Lord is on our side. We will heed not what the wicked may say, But the Lord alone we will obey.

2.       We will not retreat, though our numbers may be few When compared with the opposite host in view; But an unseen pow'r will aid me and you In the glorious cause of truth.

3.       If we do what's right we have no need to fear, For the Lord, our helper, will ever be near; In the days of trial his Saints he will cheer, And prosper the cause of truth.

Text and music: Evan Stephens, 1854–1930

I’m also thinking of the quote from President Hinckley that I shared last Sunday in my RS lesson:

As a Church, we encourage gospel scholarship and the search to understand all truth. Fundamental to our theology is belief in individual freedom of inquiry, thought, and expression. Constructive discussion is a privilege of every Latter-day Saint. 

But it is the greater obligation of every Latter-day Saint to move forward the work of the Lord, to strengthen His kingdom on the earth, to teach faith and build testimony in that which God has brought to pass in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. (May 2012 New Era in this month's New Era entitled,"Any Questions?" by David A Edwards)

Sometimes you just get in a funk of asking questions of yourself and feeling overwhelmed and you need help getting back in the boat and on your way and back to work. That’s what Sundays and temples and spouses and friends of the heart are all about—all working for the Father of us all. 

Thank you Sundays and temples and spouses and friends of the heart and the Father of us all! Pressing on!

~vbb

PS
Here's another quote Rob shared this morning that might also help someone else as it helped me:

“The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude.”

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (1917–2008), “Come What May, andLove It,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 28.