The Worry Syndrome

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. And hate... leads to suffering. - Yoda, The Phantom Menace.

Think about that list we wrote down earlier. It hurt writing those down, didn't it? Your body responded to the emotions of worry. Emotions have very real, physical effects on our bodies. You cry when sad. You smile when happy. Or what butterflies in your stomach for nervous?

Worry and fear go hand-in-hand. And that fear, that worry, has physical effects:

• Migraines
• Exhaustion
• Arthritis
• Ulcers
  

Losing sleep over it is the euphemism. Yet it's true, isn't it? You don't sleep well when you're worried. You feel run down, exhausted, drained. Then you start snapping at your kids and wife. Your entire body tenses. Every muscle clenches.

Lack of sleep cannot kill you. Lack of rest can. My brother decided once to see how long he could hold his breath. And for some reason decided to try this in the kitchen. So he held his breath. Guess what happened? Yes, he passed out - and smacked his teeth on the counter top. But he started breathing again. You see, it's physically impossible to die from holding your breath. Your body breathes on its own. Holding your breath requires an act of the will.

Likewise, your body sleeps on its own. You cannot physically make yourself stay awake forever. Eventually the body shuts down and you sleep. Staying awake takes an act of the will.

Worry does not rob us of sleep. It robs us of rest. Sleep refreshes the body. Rest refreshes the spirit. The spirit gives life to the body.

My great-grandmother lived into her nineties. As long as I knew her, my grandparents cared for her. They eventually placed her in a nursing home. My grandmother fretted over that decision for many years prior. She viewed nursing homes as place where you went to die. Because people simply stopped once they arrived. They gave up. They lost their spirit.

Worry crushes the spirit. And through that, it destroys the body.

What Me Worry?

What are you worried about? Losing your job? The drop in your 401k? The squealing noise coming from your car brakes? How's your health? Take a minute and write them down. All of them.

Proverbs 22:3 says A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. You should be concerned about the squealing brakes. You should watch your company's financial situation. Carefully, thoughtfully watch for danger. And take refuge.

Worry is an emotional obsession about things that might happen. When you worry, every thought rests on the target of that worry. You simply cannot put it out of your mind. Even worse - you really don't know if it will happen. The thought that it might triggers worry.

Worry crowds out everything else. It's a distraction. You cannot think of anything beyond that problem. Worry turns your mind inward. And it blots out the world around you. It locks you in a vault with no windows. Nothing else matters. Worry constantly screams for your attention.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? - Matthew 6:25-27

Worry is fear. What are you afraid of?

Tending the Fields

Two articles ago, we discussed the budget process. At that time, you simply wrote down where the money goes. That is important historical information. Today's article takes the next step — controlling where the money goes. A budget does not just record where your money went. A budget plans where your money is going.

First we take the list of categories. Down the left hand side we'll place numbers, starting with 1. Find the most important thing in your list — food. Trust me, you want to eat. Put a 1 next to food. Now find clothing and put a 2 next to it. The mortgage or rent goes next. Follow that with your savings for a car, insurance, and license fees. What we've done is build four walls.

Imagine raising a house. You build the roof first. Then construct a wall. Lean the roof from that one wall to the ground. Now slip another wall underneath. This isn't going too well, is it? You would never build the roof first. That's just crazy. Put up four walls and the roof goes on quite easily.

Personal finance shares much in common with our imaginary house. We have four walls supporting the rest of the structure:

1. Food


2. Clothing


3. Shelter


4. Transportation

These represent the very basic necessities. You need something of all these elements to live and work. It does you no good paying Visa while going hungry for three days. You can only earn more money staying healthy enough for work.

Proverbs 24:27 puts it this way: Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house. Always put necessities first. When examining the remainder of your budget, ask the question What happens if this doesn't get paid? Does it threaten your ability to work? Then that category goes higher on the list. Set your priorities down on paper, on purpose.