I am not a chronic worrier, but sometimes events can trigger in me a multi-day worry-fest. I really didn't give worrying much thought until, several weeks ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about worrying. Then, I guess, I became worried enough about my occasional worrying to order a book about worrying called The Worry Cure.
My first realization in reading this book is that I'm actually not much of a worrier. This is based on the self-evaluation criteria in the book and also the "example worriers."
Also, I don't worry so much about myself: I tend to worry more about other people and the suffering they might endure. For example, helping take care of my Dad when he was in hospice care at home. That was a constant worry because it's hard to know whether you are doing the absolute right thing for someone who is terminally ill. And of course out of love you want to always be doing the absolute right thing. I'm not sure anything gets you over that kind of worry.
But right now, I've been stewing a bit about a work situation that turned hurtful for someone I really like and admire. That's the kind of worry that is more easily addressed with the techniques in the book. This is an unproductive worry because there are not any real actions I can take to resolve the worry. This differs from productive worry, for example if you you are worrying about finances and don't know how much is in your checking account. This type of worry drives you to do something productive about it -- e.g. balance the check book. As simplistic as this sounds, just recognizing when I'm engaged in unproductive worry has been helpful.
There is much more involved with the book and because I'm not a chronic worrier some of it isn't completely applicable. But, still, overall I've found the book to be surprisingly helpful. Maybe even though it's not all applicable it relieves a worry about becoming a chronic worrier, which I guess in this case would be productive worrying if it leads me to seek out techniques to prevent worrying. No wonder I feel better!
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