Julie is a young woman with learning challenges. Despite these challenges, Julie has worked incredibly hard to live and work independently. She is a beautiful soul and an inspiration to all. Julie has a wonderful arsenal of wise statements that she uses (and now has me using) during periods of worry and anxiety. I call these her Julie-isms.
The Julie-sim I find myself using most is “Nothing is nothing until it’s something.” In my work with OCD and anxiety disorders, much of my job is helping people manage uncertainty and, God knows, there is a boatload of it out there for all of us right now. I explain to my clients that anxiety is not all bad (even though it can certainly feel bad).
Those of us who tend to be on the anxious side also tend to be uber responsible, determined, honorable, sensitive, and empathic… if I do say so myself!!! I also explain that worry does actually have a purpose and a function. Without the ability to worry to some reasonable degree, we would likely do a lot of very stupid and potentially dangerous things. In fact, it’s likely we would cease to exist as a species without our unique ability as humans to anticipate.
This ability allows us to plan, prepare, and problem solve (when put to good use). The issue is when we get stuck anticipating and worrying when there is absolutely nothing we can do to prepare ourselves for whatever problem could possibly be coming. If this is the case, worrying about a possible problem is completely futile (except to make us miserable!!!), and this is when we need to remember…“Nothing is nothing until it’s something.”
Thanks, Jules
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