February 20, 2014 - Written by: Poppy Gillian

Worry Lines

If worrying gives you wrinkles, then by now I should look like one of those Shar Pei dogs. I would need a huge vat of anti-wrinkle cream. I am a massive worrier and some days I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders.

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Sometimes it’s big things that worry me: global warming, flooding, the recession. Sometimes a small thing that happens can make me worry about a whole heap of other things. I know that worrying is a waste of time and completely unproductive, and I often tell other people this, but I find it difficult to take my own advice. Sometimes I manage to keep the worrying at bay, but at other times I feel as though someone is balancing rocks on my head and I am being squashed into the ground.

Recently, as part of my job, I have had to organise a Careers Fair for Year 9. Sounds pretty simple, right? I’ve been planning it for months, networking, making contacts, and I have literally approached over a hundred people; out of those, I could count the number who actually agreed to the date on my fingers. This meant making yet more phone calls and emails and left me sitting on the edge of my seat for days.

I got to a stage where I was pretty happy about it; but as soon as I had calmed down, others around me began to stress out. My confidence evaporated and there were times where I thought that all my blood, sweat and tears were going to go down the drain.

In the end, after some last minute cancellations and panic, it went really well; much better than I expected, in fact. But really, deep down, I knew it was all going to be okay because of all the effort I had put in. That didn’t stop me from having a few sleepless nights. Why did I put myself through that torture?

Worry is like a disease; it’s catching. It’s stressful when other people’s worries end up causing you stress, but it’s easy to forget that you can also project it on to others too. Growing up is bloody tough and there are a million things to worry about: what if I can never afford to move out? What if I lose my job? What if I end up an old cat lady?

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I’ve come to the conclusion that we all need a bit more confidence in ourselves. Worry is a waste of time, but sometimes a bit of worry pushes us to work harder. Things don’t always work out the way we had planned, but life would be so boring if everything happened that way. Work hard, and if others don’t appreciate it, that’s something for them to worry about, not you. There are always going to be everyday worries about delayed trains, broken hair straighteners and lost shoes. But that sort of stuff we can deal with. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Equally, don’t let the big stuff get you down either, after all, it might never happen, and if it does you will get through it.