When I find myself worrying and mentally going round in endless circles like a camel
turning a water wheel in Egypt, a good physical work-out helps me to chase those
"blues" away. It may be running or a long hike in the country, or it may be a half-hour of
bag punching or squash tennis at the gymnasium. Whichever it is, physical exercise
clears my mental outlook. On a week-end I do a lot of physical sport, such as a run
around the golf course, a game of paddle tennis, or a ski week-end in the Adirondacks.
By my becoming physically tired, my mind gets a rest from legal problems, so that when
I return to them, my mind has a new zest and power.
Quite often in New York, where I work, there is a chance for me to spend an hour at the
Yale Club gym. No man can worry while he is playing squash tennis or skiing. He is too
busy to worry. The large mental mountains of trouble become minute molehills that new
thoughts and acts quickly smooth down.
I find the best antidote for worry is exercise. Use your muscles more and your brain less
when you are worried, and you will be surprised at the result. It works that way with me-
worry goes when exercise begins.
I Was "The Worrying Wreck From Virginia Tech."
By
Jim Birdsall
Plant Superintendent C.F. Muller Company 180 Baldwin Avenue, Jersey City, New
Jersey
Seventeen years ago, when I was in military college at Blacks-burg, Virginia, I was
known as "the worrying wreck from Virginia Tech". I worried so violently that I often
became ill. In fact, I was ill so often that I had a regular bed reserved for me at the
college infirmary at all times. When the nurse saw me coming, she would run and give
me a hypo. I worried about everything. Sometimes I even forgot what I was worrying
about. I worried for fear I would be busted out of college because of my low grades. I
had failed to pass my examinations in physics and other subjects, too. I knew I had to
maintain an average grade of 75-84. I worried about my health, about my excruciating
attacks of acute indigestion, about my insomnia. I worried about financial matters. I felt
badly because I couldn't buy my girl candy or take her to dances as often as I wanted to.
I worried for fear she would marry one of the other cadets. I was in a lather day and
night over a dozen intangible problems.
In desperation, I poured out my troubles to Professor Duke Baird, professor of business
administration at V.P.I.
The fifteen minutes that I spent with Professor Baird did more for my health and
happiness than all the rest of the four years I spent in college. "Jim," he said, "you ought
to sit down and face the facts. If you devoted half as much time and energy to solving
your problems as you do to worrying about them, you wouldn't have any worries.
Worrying is just a vicious habit you have learned."
He gave me three rules to break the worry habit:
Rule 1. Find out precisely what is the problem you are worrying about.
Rule 2. Find out the cause of the problem.