The document discusses the negative effects of worrying and provides advice on managing stress and worry. It describes a situation where a professor was catastrophizing about a meeting with his department manager regarding budgetary concerns. The meeting ended up being insignificant and unimportant. The document recommends cultivating the ability to compartmentalize worries by imagining putting problems in a box on a shelf to focus on the present moment instead of obsessing over things that can't be changed, which unnecessarily drains energy and harms health.

1. The high cost of worrying
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A recent phone call from a friend and colleague was a real wake-up call. My colleague is a respected
professor of medicine at a major medical center with a 50-percent commitment to seeing patients
and a 50-percent commitment to research, which is funded by grants and contracts for which he
competes on a national level. These funds support an armada of young scientists.
Recently there was a change in leadership in his department, and my colleague received a chilling
email, not a phone call, from the new manager. It went something like this: "Budgetary concerns.
Productivity being reevaluated. We need to talk. I'll set up meeting."
We've all gotten these sorts of messages and know they can be a real source of distraction. My
friend connected with me on many occasions before the meeting, which was scheduled for three
weeks after the email. As you can imagine, my friend was "catastrophizing" his situation.
He was assuming the worst, imagining all kinds of negative scenarios. Would the funding for his
research lab be jeopardized? What would happen to the people who worked for him? Would he be
expected to see more patients under increasingly difficult circumstances?
We occasionally exchanged phone calls, and these events were a source of major distraction. I knew
the date of the meeting, and the evening before I reached out to my friend to wish him well and
reassure him that whatever the outcome he still would be viewed with admiration and respect by his
scientific community.
The day after the meeting, my friend called to tell me what had happened. The meeting was

2. scheduled for 4:00 p.m. By 4:20 p.m., the manager had not appeared. Then at 4:30 p.m., my friend
received a call from the delinquent manager who said that the meeting was canceled, explaining
that the issue was not that important after all. There were no concerns with productivity or budget.
This meeting was simply intended to be a collegial conversation about some relatively minor issues.
My colleague was of course relieved but also angry and dismayed that he had wasted so much
emotional energy over a situation that was absolutely insignificant.
If only my friend had cultivated the gift of compartmentalizing. This means taking whatever you're
worrying about and setting it aside. Picture yourself putting the problem in a shoebox, taping it up,
putting it on a shelf and then walking away without looking back.
This can be very challenging to do, but the alternative is to allow yourself to worry, sometimes
obsessively, about things you can't change. And this worrying has a cost. It drains your energy and
takes a toll on your emotional and physical health.
The lesson is clear: Try to live in the present moment. Be anchored in the present. Be totally
absorbed in the events in front of you and, within reason, put into little boxes those unpleasant
events that rob you of your sense of wellbeing.
Join the discussion at #Stress.
Aug. 11, 2015
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http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/expert-blog/the-high-cost-of-worrying
/bgp-20149524