I was recently on my way to Meghalaya when I had this epiphany. Does worrying actually help?

We had planned this short trip all of a sudden, a long drive to the outskirts of Shillong. A place nestled on the banks of the Umiam Lake. A quiet couple of days away from the rigours of our bland daily life.

We left early one Sunday morning, with dark clouds engulfing the blue sky. I was worried, because one of the wiper blades of the car had been giving trouble for some time and I hadn’t managed to repair it.

The sun had been in a fiery mood in the previous couple of weeks, and the wiper was enjoying the summer. I wasn’t counting on using it anytime soon.

When the first drop fell on my windscreen that Sunday morning, a small cramp erupted in my belly. Sure enough, five minutes later, it was raining cats and dogs and Mr. Wiper was toiling away.

Swish-slosh it went, like the pendulum of a vintage grandfather's clock, wiping away the rain water every odd second. It's frequency was proportional to the intensity of the downpour; the harder it rained, the faster Mr. Wiper moved across the windscreen.

I remained sceptical about its ability to last the trip. Sure enough, in a little while, Mr. Wiper started producing an unpleasant sound as it pushed the stream of water away. The wiper was still functional, but I was worried that it wouldn’t hold on for much longer.

I was worried.

The journey had just begun, we hadn’t driven up the mountain yet, and there was much of the winding road left to cover. I was worried that the rain would get worse up ahead. I was worried that the unpleasant sound would only increase with every passing minute.

I was worried that the wiper would eventually break down, the rain would lash on, visibility would further decrease, and we’d be stranded in the middle of the road.

I drove with an unrest eating my inners, almost distracting me. It was then that I had an epiphany - Does worrying help?

Has worrying about a job ever helped get it done?

Here I was, losing my head worrying about what could be. But how was that helping me? Was it helping me concentrate on the road ahead? No. Was it a huge distraction? Yes. Was it providing a solution to a problem that didn’t exist at the moment? No.

So why was I worrying?

I took a breath and analysed my concerns. Yes, things could go wrong, very wrong. But then, life is always uncertain. Something could always go wrong. The biggest problems in life often come unannounced. We are unprepared, but we learn to adapt. We learn to lean on our experience, our instincts, and our knowledge to solve those problems.

Worrying does nothing other than compound our problems. It never provides an answer.

As we moved on, the pitter-patter on my car’s roof slowed down. The stream rolling down the windscreen slowed down to a brook, and the sky began to clear up. Mr. Wiper slowed down in relief, and I found my tensions subsiding.

That was when I realized that we often worry about things that end up not occurring at all. Here I was, worried about getting stranded on an isolated mountain road in a storm with a broken wiper, while in the end, it was quite possible that it would never rain again in the trip.

I was suddenly so relieved that I broke into a smile. I realized that it was a great thought to script a blog about. I could write about how I was worried sick about getting stuck in rain, while in the end, life played a joke and it didn’t rain at all for the next two days.

It had all the makings of a great blog post.

Unfortunately, there was another twist in the tale. The moment we started winding up the mountains, it began raining cats and dogs again. Mr. Wiper was called into action again, lashing away furiously at the brook on my windscreen that soon turned into an overflowing river in the monsoon.

The cramp in my belly returned and intensified at every squeak of the wiper brushing against the edge of the windscreen. It rained all through the trip. My worries sat at the table with my concerns, and sipped hot chocolate and plotted my downfall.

However, Mr. Wiper managed to make it through.

The veteran vigilante protected the town, and dealt with every curveball thrown at it by the villainous thunderstorm. It ensured that regardless of how hard it rained, the road ahead was always visible. We had a great trip, returned with content hearts, phone galleries full of memories, and an intact set of wiper blades.

Worrying, it appears, doesn’t help. Yes, things could go wrong, very wrong. But then, life is always uncertain. Life is full of problems, and worrying does little more than make it worse.

Heading into a thunderstorm with a faulty wiper could end up in a disaster. However, it is also possible that the wiper would survive, which is what makes this unpredictable life so beautiful.

Au revoir

Get in touch

Is there any such experience you'd like to share? Let us know below!