Sometimes I wonder if worry has a purpose. Legitimate fear certainly does. It keeps us away from the cliff, or prevents us from touching the fire. Worry is the wet noodle of fear. Where fear is acute and pulsating in nature, worry is chronic and dull. It is a back-burner emotion, rarely taking center stage. Where fear catapults us into action or deliberate inaction, worry freezes our ability to make a decision, or causes us to make small, petty decisions all day long.
Like a wart, after which worry is so aptly named, it is a useless appendage. It is not supposed to be there yet we call it our own. Excising a wart can obliterate it sometimes, but more often than not it will grow back with a vengeance. Or we let it be for years until someone points it out to us, when all along we thought no one noticed. If only worry were so obvious that someone who loves us might say, "Hey, you don't have to live with that!"