https://www.cartoongravity.com/how-to-cope-with-2026/
In the middle of the piece, he says, “Whether it's a
global pandemic or an issue at work, the moment we're inside a problem, we're
not worrying, we're acting. Worry is not the response to a problem, it is the
anticipation of something that has not yet happened and, crucially, may not
happen.”
I do that. I worry about things that haven’t happened yet
and that may not ever happen. I worry about some of them a lot. I think of the
various ways these things might go and what I will do if they go one way or go
the other. I give it all a lot more time that I should.
In my head, I call it ‘Worrying About Schrödinger's cat .’
Like me, you probably know a little bit about Schrödinger's cat . It’s a thought experiment in which a hypothetical cat in a closed box may
be considered to be simultaneously both alive and dead while it is unobserved,
as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or
may not occur. I lifted some of that out of Wikipedia. I’m not that smart.
The key takeaway from the above spiel is that the Cat may be
simultaneously both alive and dead. Hold onto that. I know I do.
If I had a hypothetical box and Schrödinger's hypothetical cat
was inside of it, I would worry the shit out of that situation. There it is now,
on my living room floor, right in front of the telly. It’s the size of a shoe
box – no, wait, a box that had knee high boots in (more room to breathe in there).
The box is wrapped in brown paper and there’s twine around it and it’s sealed with a
blob of red sealing wax. And there’s a cat in there. And it may be alive. And it
may be dead.
Shit. I’m worried now about this hypothetical non-existent
cat. She’s alive. Does she have water, enough room to move around? Is he
stressed? Lonely? He’s dead. Will he start to smell. Can I throw the box out as
it is or do I need to open it and take the deceased moggy out? Do I have to
bury it? Will the council or perhaps a vet take it away?
This box doesn’t exist. There is no cat, no alive or dead.
Yet, here I am, worried about it.
I’m being silly to make the point but I really do this quite
a lot. I love a problem, to a certain extent. If it’s a choice between having a
problem or no problem, I’ll take the no problem option every time. Who wouldn’t?
But if it’s a choice between a problem and a potential problem with more than
one possible outcome then give me the problem. Please, the problem.
It’s like Julian said, the moment it’s a live problem, I’m
off trying to solve it. That I can do. But I have a lively and rather vivid
imagination and, before the potential problem becomes an actual thing, I can practically
exhaust myself by worrying about it.
I’ve being through a rather earnest bout of this recently.
The problem hasn’t materialised but, if it had, I had it sorted in fifteen
different ways. It just never arrived… well, it hasn’t yet. Maybe it will…
(stop it, Ken, just stop).
I manage these tendencies. I try to be mindful in a
half-arsed sort of a way. I notice the trees and the quality of the air and the
sunlight when there is some. I tell myself that, “at this moment, everything is
all right.” And all that helps and works to a certain extent.
But the ghost/non ghost of Schrödinger's Imaginary Cat is
never very far away. Lurking around some corner or leaning stiff again some
wall. I’m never sure which.
But I worry about both.
I’ll be fine though. I’ve been doing this a long time now
and I just need to keep reminding myself not to.
For the week that’s in it, can I wish you, Dear Reader, a
warm and pleasant Christmas without too much worry and stress. And if it’s a
bad time of year for you, I get that. Just remember that Winter will pass soon
and better, brighter days will be with us again.
Thanks for coming by this year and all the very best
Ken x
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