Turn Worry into Wonder

He could waste an hour’s good sleep worrying and be no wiser for it.

—Geraldine Brooks (Horse, p. 84)

Are you a worrier—filling your empty moments with “what ifs” about things that may never happen? Do you worry about your creative projects—will they sell, will they be successful, will people like them? Or do you tend to worry about other things—will you make enough money to keep creating, will you stay healthy, will you find the right connections?

The Goddesses are reading the book, The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton. In the book, Kempton talks about the Japanese phrase “ki ni shinaide” or “Don’t worry about it.” She writes, “It only recently struck me that the literal translation of this is “Don’t turn it into energy.” Yet this is often exactly what we do with worries. We can get so fixated on a fear-based thought that we turn it into a stuck energy in the body, where it acts as a creative block that gets in the way of our work.”

When we worry, we’re using up our creative energy. Instead of writing, dreaming, or drawing, we perseverate. At the end of the day, we feel anxious and depleted.

Consider the times in your day when you’re prone to worry. Those are usually times when you could be creative: when you’re exercising or cooking, while you drive, or the minutes right before and after sleep. Next time you find yourself giving your energy to worry, stop. Shift. Decide to spend that time and energy noodling about your creative projects. Ask “what if” about stories instead. Play with ideas. Dream new dreams.