Worry once, suffer twice.

Worry once, suffer twice.

As the good Harry Potter fan that I am, I obviously went to see the new ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ film on the opening night. The film as a whole was entertaining and it was magical to be immersed in the Harry Potter world again. There was one line that truly struck me though and it stayed with me. Newt Scamander, the main character says, “My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice.” Take a moment and really think about that. By worrying about something we are actually experiencing that ‘terrible’ thing we are nervous about twice. What is it that worrying accomplishes? Are we discovering amazing ways to combat the potential ‘disaster’ by letting anxiety explore every which way things could go wrong? When did worrying translate to caring?

Why is it that as a society we shame those who seem to be worry-free? It’s like we’re saying that the only way to give life respect is to worry that it is going to kick us in ass if we’re not paying attention. I am someone whose life used to be consumed by anxiety. I’d spend nights tossing and turning, imagining worst case scenarios that never came to pass. Today I can say that the times things did go wrong I was able to work through and manage it. The worrying, whether the things came to pass or not, never helped. The truth is that it was rarely what I actually worried it was going to be and it was never as bad as I imagined it.

When Trump was elected, I witnessed the collective sadness of New York City. The air was heavy with the weight of disbelief and anxiety, dazed faces with dark ringed eyes were everywhere I went, and I started to feel their emotions seeping into my pores. It was a heavy day, a sad day and while I will not take away anything from the blow that many people received, I will talk about the effect of worry in this context. I won’t lie, the election was something that upset me, but the extreme worry I witnessed in people struck me. Don’t misunderstand me, because I am in no way saying that I believe anything good will come from someone like Donald Trump being in office but what I am saying is that we don’t know what is going to happen. Worrying about the possibilities only means we will suffer twice. Saying that though, only does so much and this was a perfect chance to watch healthy (as well as unhealthy) ways of dealing with these sort of major events. I didn’t know how cathartic protests were until I saw my friends participating and realized that it was just as much about them being active and feeling like they were doing something as it was about actually protesting. Doing is so much more powerful than worrying. We have the ability to make changes by taking action, making ourselves heard and contributing to our communities instead of locking ourselves away with our anxieties.

Conquering Life helps with the tools necessary to combat negative thinking styles which are a direct cause of worrying and anxiety. Learning how to retrain our brains and shedding this concept, that not worrying means that we don’t care, is liberating. We don’t need to apply our vast imaginations to what could go wrong, rather we should apply it to what will go right! We all need to get out of heads and open the door to living and conquering life! Take a step towards achieving, don’t let what the what ifs stop you from making an impact on the world! Go forth and Conquer Life!