Old English Word for Worry Made Me Take Notice. Whoa!

I can’t remember now where I heard this. But I was listening to either a YouTube channel or a podcast when I heard the speaker say that the old English word for worry is to strangle.

Whoa! That made me sit up and take notice. You too?

How many of us are strangling ourselves on a daily basis? And not to mention several times a day?!

This from Merriam Webster:

to harass by tearing, biting, or snapping especially at the throat; to shake or pull at with the teeth; to touch or disturb something repeatedly; to change the position of or adjust by repeated pushing or hauling; to assail with rough or aggressive attack or treatment; to subject to persistent or nagging attention or effort.

Then these are the words that are near the entry of the word worry: worm, wormhole, wormwood, worn, worrisome, worry wart, worse, worsen, worse, and worship.

Now I was down the rabbit hole of linking this all together. A good rabbit hole because this type of falling into the abyss is often welcome to help me deepen my understanding of self and shadow and to create a satisfying shift in my psyche.

Worm and wormhole made me think of dark and damp. Though it also made me think of earth and grounding and how good I feel when I’m out in nature connecting with the earth and how it calms and centers me.

But worry can be a dark place and a never-ending tunnel we spiral down into and then get trapped there.

Wart I associated with ugly. It isn’t pretty when we worry. Though we may not see it ourselves at first, it wears us down spiritually and then physically. We carry ourselves differently when we worry. We miss out on the beauty around us when we worry.

The more we worry, the worse it gets, and the more it can feel like we are being strangled.

But then the word worship being around in the same area as worry caught my attention too.

Worship can often get associated with religion or vanity. But what if we could look at worship in a different way in relation to worry?

What if we could worship – appreciate and love ourselves – not in a vain way – but in gratitude for being a part of this vast and awe-inspiring universe? What if we could truly understand that all that happens in our lives happens for us and not to us? That each situation or challenge is a gift?

This from Merriam Webster and the definition of worship:

to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power; to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.

If we could strive to be in this space more often, we wouldn’t be in this place of strangling ourselves with worry, but rather understand that on a grand scale everything has a purpose. That in the end, there really was nothing to worry about.

So next time I find myself beginning to worry I want to remember the old English definition because it certainly does not feel good to strangle oneself!

Barb