Putting Your Thoughts and Feelings into Jeopardy

Welcome: To this blog, this particular post, this virtual office (no mask required, at least for now), this set (as in TV), where I will give you the answers and you will answer with a question (interesting format, eh?)...but, in contrast with the popular show on which contestants show what they know (at least in the form of factoids), on this version, given that I am the host, I get to choose the opening category...OK, get ready to buzz in, as we explore your "Self-Awareness"...

Answer: A natural part of the human condition. It has historically played a vital role in our survival (as I have repeatedly informed you here, in its defense), and it helps us cope with many changes we face today. At the same time, it can become too intense, too frequent (as of late), and too unrelenting, which can definitely cut into your happy self, your JOY! 

Question: What is WORRY? 

CORRECT!

Answer: Sometimes masquerading under the feeling of "Fear" or even hiding behind the subcategory of "Anxiety" as casted in the 2015 Pixar film "Inside Out", this feeling, part of ME, inside of YOU, gets a lot of bad press, sometimes even badmouthed as the thing that can cause ulcers ("you're gonna' give me an ulcer!"), the effects of which, if unmitigated, can result in some physical/health conditions that eventually bring you to the attention of a physician, and may then bring you to my office. Whereas other times its best to put 'me' on "Ignore" or "Block". I have generally negative connotations, intonations in nature, I can be off-putting to many, sometimes correctly processed, interpreted, as trying to bring your attention to a problem needing your attention, like the 'stone in your shoe' (which, if ignored, not removed, could result in a more systemic infection), whereas if you dwell on ME too much, it could result in RUMINATING, as in ruin your day, probably more so your night...

Question: Who is Worry?

CORRECT again, you are getting the hang of this, showing UR pretty self-aware...

Answer: Frequently misunderstood, underappreciated, a state of mind and emotional state, that we all experience from time to time. When it shows up too much and/or at inopportune times, is casted as "Henny Penny" throughout the EU ("Chicken Licken" or "Chicken Little" around the US) -- the character who, having experienced an acorn falling on their head declared "The sky must have fallen; I must go and tell the King". Others, who find it offensive in the moment, may go on the defensive, may instead entitle this as a "spoilsport" (one who behaves in a way to spoil others' pleasure, especially by not joining in). In other settings is appreciated as a state of mind, of affairs, can actually be experienced as a "calling", a professional discipline taught in some more prestigious schools of business or, in other colleges, found in the department of environmental science, career paths that involve learning just how much of this is critical, whereas if overdone can get this called-on professional to be ignored. Two disciplines your host here brought to you as two likely to be in demand during and after the pandemic...

Question: What can be Worry-Some, relied on by risk managers and safety engineers? Who can be looked at as brilliant problem solvers and other times told "thank you now go back to your desk, and let us worry about that..."

Wow! This could be a runaway, you other contestants should start...worrying, but don't freak out, it could interfere with your performance. On the other hand, if you didn't prep for this, "That's on YOU, no cause for a crisis on my part!" Like your parents told you when you acted all upset when failing a test, after they had warned you to stop playing video games, trying to get your attention, induce just the right amount of anxiety...

Answer: The type of process, especially done nocturnally, when one might be experiencing a bit of negative nostalgia, which eventuates in turn in insomnia, can be triaged and categorized, and hopefully in turn put on "sleep" mode, through a process your host here generously offered well ahead of your appearance here. That, when you find yourself in such a state, ask yourself, if it's something that is time sensitive, which should be something worth losing sleep over, at least the amount of time to write it on "post-it" note by your bedside, which you will note first thing in the AM...and second, if it's something you are able to solve through some free association, stream of (un)consciousness, which can occur on the brink of sleep at times (and at others find yourself in the am asking "what in the hell was I thinking, what a dumb idea!") ... in the former case it's called "problem solving", a late night "Eureka!" and in the latter may just be "under the influence" (of whatever you indulged in late PM)...and, finally, if all else fails, put your mind, your worries into those of others whose problems may need our attention, even our 🙏 A good distraction from our own. Oh, and, "don't just worry for the sake or worrying"...no value, minimal virtue.

Questioning: What is learning how to "Worry Well", which can make me into a "World Class Worrier"?😔 😆😉?

👏👍!! Aren't you glad you came here today? OK, Final question -- sorry, I mean answer of course...don't worry, I haven't lost it...yet!

Answer: The ageless mascot, who drove a lot of us to become "MAD", the more contemporary poster child of "CHILL", the dude (current term for you non-boomers, uncultured) whose mental state and existential 'pose' we find ourselves aspiring to, "under the circumstances..."

Question: (all three contestants buzzing in simultaneously): Who is none other than the one and only Alfred E. Neuman, whose trademark grin and smart-aleck approach to life leaves many of us in a state of ENVY, who showed us how NOT to worry, sweat about the small stuff; I meme, "WHAT, ME WORRY?"

A three-way tie! No worries, you're all invited to the next post: "Don't worry; it's just a game"