The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-02-07
HURRY AND WORRY
rHE TWO CHIEF CAUSES OF NER-
VoUs EXHAUSTION.
Avoid These, Says a Leading PhySL.
clan, and You May Live Out Your
Allotted Days and Do Your
Lhe's Work Well.


DR.. Thomas C. Ely, of Philadelphia,
in an article on neurasthenia in the
Journal of the American Medical asso-
ciation, lays much stress on hurry and
worry as leading causes of nervous ex-
haustion. He has this to say:
Learn to hurry little and worry net
at all. An illustration consists In the
fatigue in the hurry to catch a trs'p,
which is out of all proportion to the
physical effort expended. individuals
are too much like the modern tele-
phone sign, always ON duty For
hurried and worried business or hur-
ried and worried pleasure, hurry alone
or worry alone are poisonous to the
normal functions of the nerve system.
But the American combination of wor-
ried hurry is deadly. Each brings into
action the worst features of the other"
OF course every one who stops to
think will agree with the author, but
how few are able to follow his good
advice? Worry is only the extra work,
the increased wear and tear for which
we are never paid. 1t always hinders
but never wins. 1t means incapacity
for anticipated efforts, and yet we con-
stantly blame circumstances rather
than our individual selves. The man
who is always ready and takes time
to be sure before he starts never need
hurry or worry. How few can do this
consistently! Theu comes the break
down which is so often charged to
mere overwork. In 80 cases in hun
dred it is the worry, always useless,
that eventually weakens and kills.
The gloomy foreboding not only saps
the energy of all valiant endeavor to
conquer difficulties, but cheats us in
the end by proving the old adage, that
"the expected never happens" If we
compare notes we can easily prove the
comforting truth of the saying. If
the disconsolate man who for years
feared the death of his invalid wife
could have known she would survive
him Tor more than a quarter of cen
tury how much unnecessary mental
suffering would have been spared him!
The absolute utility of worry is the
lesson of it all. The future, as a rule,
is more often surprise and delight
than a disappointment and discipline,
We grieve when we look ahead and
smile when we look back. But with
most people experience counts for
nothing when new obstacles appear.
1t is the old story that the last diff
Guilty will be inSurmountable. But each
in his turn soon learns that he cannot
control events, disturb the relations of
cause and effect or alter the immuta-
BILE laws of destiny, no matter how
strongly he may yearn to do so. The
only reasonable way to adjust matters
is to wait until the time comes for the
solution of the dreaded problem.
Mostly, also, we lack the courage,
patience, good judgment and prepared
ness to meet the issues as they arise
We waste thought, strain nerve and
Danish sleep in anticipation of that
which never transpires. Don't shoot
until they come out" combines lots of
sound wisdom with no end of good
philosophy. We not only worry in ad-
vance of the thing, but after it is done.
If we calmly planned our escape and
tried our best what more could have
been done?
A main difficulty is in striving to do
too much and in overtaxing our capacl'
ties. The strong, steady, self-reliant
man has no misgivings, but the weak
one mistrusts every thing, himself in
cluded. He contrives against odds and
worries and hurries, while others eat,
sleep and are merry.
But this is going to be the way with
the average nervous American. 1t was
h., in fact, who invented neurasthena.
The disease has become a habit with
him, and worry, hurry, restlessness
and irritability are its leading features.
He takes his business home with him,
eats with it, sleeps with it, dreams
with it. 1t is his shadow at the fire.
side and table; it blurs all his pleas
ures, stands between him and his fam
ily, all because he must borrow trouble
and mortgage happiness, health and
life in the balance.