What, me worry?

Don't worry, be happy.

An advice columnist for PJ Media named Belladonna Rogers says that, contrary to what many believe, worry is a good thing.

This captures her point:

Even the otherwise judicious Roman rhetorician, Marcus Annaeus Seneca, said, “There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it in expecting evil before it arrives?” Right. Guess he never had to prepare for a hurricane, a blizzard, a flood, or a child’s college tuition payments.

And this.

Neurotic worry, or obsessive, repetitive thinking about a problem is counterproductive. But wisely directed worry can solve problems and lead to vastly improved outcomes.

Dictionary.com defines worry as: "to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret." That's not good.

Here's where I think the middle ground is, at least for me. I just made out a to-do list for today, looking over my lists for the two previous days. Some of the things on the list involve income and expenses; others involve serious matters of health.

All I am able to do is recognize these things and take the next step toward a resolution, whether that's a phone call or reading an article or creating a new spreadsheet only I can decipher and that's probably wrong anyway. I absolutely cannot control the outcome. I have broken these big, major things in my life into small, manageable pieces, and I'll try to get to all of them today, and I know I won't.

There's always tomorrow. And maybe there won't be a tomorrow. That's why I'm not going to worry about any of it.

So I think this all comes down to the word worry. I'll think, plan and do today. Call it what you will, but it's not worry.