At a leadership workshop a few weeks back, a new friend of mine asked me if I knew what the origin of the word worry was. Being unsure yet curious, I said no, and she proceeded to tell me. She said that she had heard that worry came from the idea of working a piece of cloth with the fingers, or to worry a piece of cloth.
For me, that made immediate sense. I’ve recognized that when I feel the most worried, my hands will be incredibly active, with my fingers tugging and tustling with whatever is nearby. I’ve found one of the fastest ways to reduce my worry is simply just to focus on not moving my hands or feet.
So today, I decided to look up the definition of worry. While some dictionaries do include the concept of “to touch or rub constantly,” many included one concept that I did not expect:
To seize by the throat with the teeth; bite at or tear with the teeth, as dogs when fighting; kill or injure badly by repeated biting, tearing, shaking, etc.: as, a dog that worries sheep; a terrier worries rats.–via Wordnik
Holy crap. To worry means to grab the throat with the teeth and thrash about? What are we doing to ourselves when we worry? We are suffocating ourselves! With razor-sharp teeth! In the throat!
So, next time you feel worried, just remember that what you’re doing to yourself is like a rabid dog trying to rip the head off a sheep. Maybe that’ll help calm you down. Or just focus on keeping your hands and feet as still as possible. That may work better 🙂