Sentence:  To expand, without <WSD>bothering</WSD> about it — without shiftless timidity on one side, or loquacious eagerness on the other — to the full compass of what he would have called a "pleasant" experience, was Newman's most definite programme of life. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome.