Trust is the Antidote to Worry

I think that a long time ago, we had a lot of implicit expectations when we trusted someone. Trust meant not just that person wouldn't harm us, but also that if we were in any sort of danger we would be warned. That something, anything, would be done to help if it were possible. 

Maybe it's still that way for children.  But for adults now, trust has to be a lot more specific and explicit. For example, when you connect to a website securely and you enter your username and password, you are trusting your computer to faithfully transmit what you type and not work against you, you are trusting the network between your computer and the server to carry your encoded messages to the correct destination, you are trusting the secure browsing protocol that nobody can eavesdrop on your username and password, you are trusting the website not to publish your password or other personal information or use it against you, and after all of that you are trusting the website to serve its intended purpose. Or similarly when you drive a car on the highway, you are trusting that your machine works, you are trusting that your skills of navigating and driving it are adequate to get you to your destination, you are trusting that the roads leading to your destination are passable, and you are trusting that the other drivers on the road will not bump into you. 

That's why we get so mad when a website sells or allows to be stolen its list of members and their personal information. It's a violation of trust. Or when a drunk driver hits another car. It's a violation of trust - and worse, it was a willful violation, because a person has to act to become drunk. 

When a person does not trust, a person worries. 

So if you find that you are worried a lot, it means you have lost a lot of trust. Maybe the loss was "earned" because of past mistakes or problems, or maybe its groundless. Either way, the only way to get it back is to experiment.  

Not sure if the road to where you're going is worthy? Start with a drive around the block. Then go a little farther. Ask people who have been there and maybe travel with friends to double check. 

A person who doesn't worry is said to be a person with a lot of confidence. But confidence just means firmly trusting. A person with confidence is a person with a lot of trust in himself or herself and in the world. That trust can be based on a person's beliefs or experience. I think the best confidence comes from experience, especially if it's experience using one's own skills because it combines a trust in the world and a trust in oneself. 

So if you are worried sick, you better find something to trust. You don't have to start by trusting the thing that makes you worried, because you can get to that later. Start with something easy, maybe something you already trust and just remind yourself... "I trust my chair to be sturdy, this table to be flat..." and work your way up to trusting enough to make your worry go away. 

Trust doesn't mean that everything will be okay. It means that the world will work the way it's supposed to. So the more you learn about the world, the easier it is to trust it.