Tom Petty on Worry
Most things I worry about never happen anyway.
-Tom Petty
I’m not sure of the context, and I know others have spoken those words, but today I’m glad to give credit to Tom Petty for that truth. Worries are curious things. We often worry about impossible things – things that are nearly impossible, but momentarily fill our heads with dread. In that moment the unlikely appear certain and we fix our sights on the dreadful and dire. In hindsight we can sometimes see worry’s folly and we understand Tom Petty’s words, but it’s often too late. We’ve already lost a night’s sleep or had the joy gutted from an otherwise lovely day by needless worry.
I suspect that worries grow, as if from seeds, out of tiny legitimate thoughts. And it’s perhaps when they are watered by negativity around us, they swell and sprout into these larger and fast-growing fears. Our tiny thoughts can become overshadowing worries when fertilized by negative energy around us.
So, today I’m trying to not listen to negativity around me, because it can fuel my worries, and I found some TP lyrics that might help:
Gonna stand my ground, won’t be turned around. And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down, gonna stand my ground and I won’t back down.
