Phoebe Kate

Okay, I know the Bible says it’s the meek who’ll do that, but after reading a recent study out of Stanford University, I’m placing my bet on the worriers.

Seems that scientists have identified the “worry spot” in the brain.  It’s called the anterior insula, an artifact of our early reptilian heritage that monitors or senses imminent danger.  In certain people, the anterior insula is unusually active and produces “anticipatory worry” or dread of something bad happening in the future.  The fear is often free-floating and not necessarily connected to any particular anxiety triggers or foreboding situations. 

While this hardly seems like a psychological advantage, researchers did make a remarkable discovery.  People with a hyperactive anterior insula test out as being excellent managers of money and having “a higher fidelity when it comes to economic decisions.”  Maybe it’s fear of being poor that makes the worriers work their bucks to the best advantage, but in an economy like ours today, that’s definitely a critical survival skill — and one which so very many don’t seem to have these days.

It’s gratifying to read an article that vindicates us nervous Nellies and recasts us as financial gurus.  But the longer I live, the more I realize how absurd an activity worry is.  Statistics tell us that a whopping 99% of what we fear never occurs.  Obviously, if there’s something you can do to forestall a crisis or fix a problem, by all means do it.  But if there isn’t, worrying won’t change a thing…or so I keep telling myself.     

The other day, however, I had a curious thought.  What if all our nail-biting and knotted stomachs and paced floors and sleepless nights actually could alter things?  Would we really be pleased with the results?  

I’m not so sure…

If worry could keep ourselves and our loved ones safe and sound, no one would ever die.  Terrific! you say.  But is it really?  If we worried away all crises and problems, our mettle would never be tested or honed.  If we weren’t confronted with obstacles to overcome or challenges to tackle, we’d never develop new skills, deeper ways of thinking, different directions for our lives.  We’d plod on endlessly like the ponies on tethers at the  carnival kiddy ride.  Left on our own, do you really believe most of us would challenge ourselves or break new ground in our situations?  Oh, no no NO.  Challenge and change are much too risky propositions — why would anybody in their right mind choose them?  Without struggles, setbacks, disappointments and losses, we’d certainly save ourselves from frown lines, lost sleep, grief and the painful process of picking ourselves up and starting all over again  – but we’d also never evolve into better, braver, wiser, more competent and more compassionate people.  Instead, we’d go on as we were – unchallenged, unchanging, ignorant and in a profound state of emotional and spiritual retardation — forever and ever.    

Sounds like a living hell to me.

So will the worriers inherit the earth because of the financial prowess hotwired into their cranial worry spot?  Or maybe they will, simply because they suffered so much wishing that everything turns out well for everybody, they’ve merited some sort of recompense for all that unnecessary pain and anguish. 

–phoebe kate