Bill Whittle’s Russian-born wife deals with a lot of anxiety related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, her loved ones still in Russia, and her shame over Vladimir Putin’s actions. Telling someone “Don’t worry.” is worse than useless. But is there a way to worry without being consumed by fear?
“When there are people you love in danger, the more secure you are, the more you worry.”
— Bill Whittle
Zo Rachel and Bill Whittle create two new episodes of The Virtue Signal each week to break down the principles and morality underpinning the news of the day. Our Members funded this so you could watch for free. You can join the producers (Green Button), or just put a little something in the “tip jar” (Blue Button). Thank you.
17 replies on “Fighting Anxiety: How You Can Worry without Being Consumed by Fear”
I just finished a sermon on worry. In the words of the great 60s philosopher, Alfred E. Newman, “What? Me Worry?”. With all that is going on around us these days, we can learn from the words of Jesus, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We are overcomers, and the fear, or worry is His problem, not us.
Prayer is something we can all do. Pray and pray again. Place all your ANXIETY in the hands of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 🙏✝️🇺🇲💯
It really helps me. I know it will help you too.
It is such an important observation that waiting is doing something. Far, far too often when faced with mental or emotional problems we ask ourselves what we can DO to fix this. While there are important activities and actions we may take when feeling mentally and emotionally ill, those actions often don’t relieve the overwhelming feelings of fear, confusion, sadness, anger or isolation. We still need to do what is right. We need to say what is right. We need to think what is right. But all those actions in themselves may not remove our feelings or heal our state of mind. Bill is right that we need to wait on that healing and hope that there is a better time and a better end to our story, That is also where faith comes in. No matter what you believe about God, we all project hope and despair on the unknown future. This is the essence of faith, to have confidence in what we cannot now see. We all have that future coming. Some of us trust that the ending is a good one and we will find rest for the mental and emotional pain that we experience now.
Great show guys. Compartmentalizing the things that make us afraid are how we move on with on lives in the face of danger.
123456
Boy this video was a big disappointment. I’m an agnostic but I have nothing against religion. But Zo basically making this video into a religious sermon made me lose a lot of respect. Not for him being a believer, we have freedom of religion and I respect the internal beliefs of others. But for implying that our only, or at least primary, “cure” is by turning things over to “god” which even if I were a believer, that STILL flies in the face of human free will. I’m open to the possibility of God’s existence, but even then, I refuse to believe we’re all puppets on a string, we have to make things right for ourselves, not be dependent on some divine being. When our primary tool to end worry is religion, IMHO that’s a position of weakness, not strength.
I know Bill is also a religious person, but I respect that he realizes not everyone watching is, so he doesn’t put it front and center. Zo apparently can’t help himself.
That’s a hell of an attitude especially coming from someone with such an incoherent set of petty grievances
You’re so badly “disappointed” that you have lost respect for Zo….and you think he’s the one in the wrong here?…..You are totally misinterpreting his intention and doing so in bad faith. if you feel like he’s preaching then you must have one have hell of a guilty conscience
I take back what I said about “respect”, I do respect religion and religious beliefs, I just don’t like when people try to insist it’s the only way out or imply that atheists are immoral and have no values.
seems to me that an agnostic is in greater danger than an atheist as the agnostic is saying that GOD did not give enough evidence to prove his existence. Read the first 6 verses of Romans. . Oh yeah, I forgot that was just an ancient book written by men and reprinted and translated so many times it can’t be trusted.
I understand Zo because I’m a believer as well. God becomes the answer for everything. You see life through the God lens. That’s who Zo is. In my life, I also feel overwhelmed. Ukraine, Biden, illegal Immigration, inflation, etc. Not much we can do individually. Then there is the natural stuff that comes our way: getting old, health, relationships, accidents etc. Not much control there. But these are earthly problems.
I think you might notice that we conservatives don’t cause much of a ruckus. We’re content to do our best and suffer what comes our way with dignity and introspection. The left pushes things hard because they see all the answers to man’s problems as being problems that can be solved in the here and now by men, and the rush to get things done is important because one is limited by their lifespan. Christians know earthly utopia will never happen. Our belief is that life is a test and by believing in God and trusting Him, we’ll be rewarded later. I’m not saying that you won’t live a better life as a conservative and an agnostic/atheist, but in my point of view, it’s a whole lot easier having the hope and comfort Christianity affords.
I have basically no friends and no one around me cares about what’s going on in the world or gives a damn about human suffering that isn’t occurring directly in front of them and the last five years have been hellish enough but being alone in this is too much for me at this juncture.
By the way, Bill, I am your biggest fan on Earth and would love to help out in any way…I have a broad set of skills and lots of ideas…if you are looking to add a young woman to the team pro bono, holler at me 🙋♀️
I have found in the past several years that the people I thought were friends were merely acquaintances. I find the “conversations” on this site to be much more interesting and enjoyable. If it was not for my wife, I would have said exactly what you did about having no friends. But I find that I am ok with that at this juncture.
But I am glad for the community at BW(dot)com and though we have never met consider Bill, Scott and Steve as friends.
Echo that.
I was basically there when I was your age. But it also wasn’t long after that that I met my wife. 33 years later … here we are.
I often tell people that the older I get the more I realize that people … as in “the people in it” … is what life is all about. Still true. And it’s also a dirty little secret that most people have relatively few actual friends – and a lot of acquaintances. It’s normal. But it is important to make connections when and where you can and to nurture the ones that click, even if over distance and time. Even if it’s just one right now. There is time. You are young. And by the way, don’t forget family. I remember a teacher telling us in 3rd or 4th grade that our brothers and sisters … family, would be our best real friends through life. It sounded good at the time, but I didn’t really get it until I was an adult.
Are you in a particularly “progressive” city? To tell the truth, I am … it’s just in the middle of a more conservative state. Even so, the states and even the cities aren’t blue or red, they’re purple. In other words, even in the middle of San Francisco … there are people you can connect with. I often suggest church if you’re so inclined. You may have to look around for one that meshes with your outlook before you find many people who believe the same things.
If not that, some hobby club or civic club … get where the people are. The more you’re around, the higher the likelihood of a positive random collision.
Hang in there, Carli!
Regarding Putin drawing the rest of his country (and the world) into his own prison, I can’t help but wonder if that is the definition of Hell and the demons that occupy it. A demon cannot abide being solely-subjected to his individual prison; he is motivated to bring all others with him even though his loneliness will persist.
It seems that this metaphor applies to all of the world’s policymakers for at least the past two years. We must all comply with the mandates because the “demons” are in power.
It’s long past time to throw off the shackles of Hell and its minions.