What the Rebbe Taught Me About Worry

Today is the yahrtzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Here's what I want to share with you.

Years ago I was going through a stretch where I was anxious about nearly everything. Work, family, finances, whether I was doing enough, whether I was enough. It wasn't dramatic from the outside. I was functioning fine. But inside I was running a constant loop of worry that never actually solved anything.

During that time I came across a letter the Rebbe had written to someone in a very similar place. And instead of giving this person a long theological explanation, the Rebbe said something startlingly simple. He told them that worry itself was the problem. Not the situation. The worry. Because worry drains the exact energy you need to actually do something about the situation.

It sounds almost too obvious. But when I sat with it, I realized I had never separated the two things. I thought worrying about a problem was the same as working on it. It isn't. Worrying is just suffering about something without moving. Action is what moves you forward.

The Rebbe's approach was always the same. Don't sit in the heaviness. Do one thing. Give charity. Learn something. Help someone. Take a practical step. He clarified that action could reach places that thinking and worrying never could.

That principle is baked into everything we do in this community. When you're stuck in your head, the answer is almost never to think harder. It's to do something.

If this resonates, check out "How to Dispel Anxiety and Worry" in our classroom, where I teach one of the Rebbe's actual letters on this topic: https://www.skool.com/calmer/classroom/deace024?md=f78a8411f6b1453fa9cc6abdf947fde4

May the Rebbe's teachings continue to be a source of guidance and strength for all of us.

4 comments

What the Rebbe Taught Me About Worry