The Cycle of Our Worries

The cycle of our moods is puzzling at times. The same troubles that worry us at one time do not so much worry at another. The same problems that cause sleeplessness one night do not seem so much to do so at another. The change is often more in us than in events. A physical symptom, concern about a loved one, concern about ourselves may run from optimism to deep depression with about the same set of circumstances, except within ourselves. When we worry we are less efficient; we contribute to the cause and slow down the cure. Whatever the cause, we should do what we can do, and not just worry and hope our worry will go away. If we are young and worrying about the future, we should study and prepare and make ourselves as competent as we can. If our worry comes from a troubled conscience, we should repent, be prayerful, cultivate a simple faith, and keep the commandments. Whatever our worries, we should not brood in the dark. Darkness is dangerous. It is physically, mentally, emotionally dangerous. We should take our worries out and look at them in the light, separate facts from fears, think things through, and not imagine the worst on a wakeful night. “Life is thickly sown with thorns,” said Voltaire, “and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.” All men have down days, discouraging days, difficulties and depression. Countless people have conquered, have overcome, have picked up broken pieces, or have gone on even when there weren’t many pieces to pick up. We need faith and facts and good plain common sense to lift us from the down days and the darkness, remembering that discouragement and depression often come from the distortion of darkness. This sentence from Marcus Aurelius is oversimplified, but since worry is often caused by doing nothing when we should be doing something, it has within it something of real substance: “I do my duty;” he said, “other things trouble me not.”