If you can imagine the worst–and see the possibility in it–you have turned a corner. Everything begins to shift. Worry is transformed into creativity. Michael Hyatt
Are you as burned out on negativity as I am?
I’ve basically stopped watching television news. My radio mostly blares mindless sports talk these days. I scan a few info blogs, but I’m outta there when the discussion turns to doom and gloom.
I’m not a Pollyanna. I don’t wish to live in denial, and I acknowledge that times are extremely tough for many folks. I want to be sensitive to struggle, but I’d rather do something, however small, to make things better than simply drowning in a tide of trouble.
In The Noticer, Andy Andrews offers this analysis:
- 40% of the things we worry about never happen
- 30% are things that already happened
- 12% are needless imaginings about health, such as ‘does this headache mean I have a brain tumor?’
- 10% are petty worries about what other people think
That means 92% of our worry centers on issues that don’t happen, already happened, or don’t matter. That leaves 8% as genuine concerns on which we might actually have some impact.
As a novel, I’m not sure The Noticer intends to present empirically accurate data, but the concept makes a lot of sense. Whether it’s 8% or a slightly different number, we waste a great deal of energy on worry about issues we cannot control or even affect. What would happen if we redirected that energy?
I’m invited to speak at a conference of nonprofit leaders, who face the dual challenges of dwindling financial support and increasing demand for services. Why me? What can I possibly tell this audience?
This opportunity, and others like it, arose because I’m in a wheelchair. I likely wouldn’t have become an author and speaker without the senseless accident that left me paralyzed. But after several years of worry and depression, I decided to minimize my focus on disability and turn toward ability. Within challenge I discovered possibility.
I’ve published magazine articles. I’ve written and published a book. I enjoy interesting occasions to meet and speak to a variety of groups. Amazingly, people actually read and listen to my words.
All of that doesn’t make the injury disappear. It doesn’t remove the frustration or diminish the pain. The wheelchair’s still just as real. But those are part of the 92% of issues I can’t change, and worried energy directed there is draining and life-wasting.
I spend most of my energy these days seeking creative ways to tell my story, and I’m energized and excited about future prospects. A new world appeared when I refocused away from worry about the 92% and toward creatively exploring the opportunities within the 8%.
Challenge and opportunity walk hand in hand. Worry is negative imagination about the challenge. Creativity is positive imagination about the opportunity. Perhaps one of God greatest gifts to us is the ability to choose creativity.
What’s a challenge you’re worried about right now? How can you discover an opportunity to creatively address that challenge?
Please leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net.