Tradition dictates the after you finish telling it all your troubles, you put it under your pillow and the doll takes care of them for you, so you can sleep well.
Instead, I woke up in the middle of the night, quite unsure of the reason.
But there, now only loosely clutched in my fingers, was my Worry Doll, staring back at me.
Maybe I didn't realise how many subconscious fears I actually have.
Maybe I didn't have enough time to get them all out before the veil of night washed over me and I fell asleep.
I couldn't let the doll out of my grasp, and I somehow woke up with an unparalleled sense of dread.
I have a friend who used to ask me if they worried too much.
I replied: "I don't think you can worry too much. It just means that you care, and that makes you a good person."
The reasoning seems to satisfy us both at the time, but a few years on, I'm suddenly not so sure.
In the event of someone worrying too much, is there the possibility one could care too much?
Similar to someone worrying or stressing about things which they cannot change, which they have no control over, is it possible for someone to care too much about any particular thing, to have too many hopes or dreams riding on something that could potentially prove quite temporary?
I'm no advocate for apathy: I believe passion is the driving force behind everyone's true nature.
It's important to care about a lot of things, but is there a limit?
Putting too much faith in one thing, or being so passionate that it comes to the verge of fanaticism, unable to accept anything else.
Caring too much because of everything you've invested, with far too much at stake.
Or maybe the two terms aren't as synonymous as I've come to view them as.
Caring is about maintaining the positive, aiming for an optimistic end point.
Worry, on the other hand, seems like a constant stream of pessimism, with a deep focus on all the possible negatives.
It's okay to be nervous, and it's okay to care.
All you need is a little bit of hope.
And leave the worrying to the doll under your pillow.
"I'm just as nervous as you
but last night I took one look at you
and I got the feeling you're the right one" - Plain White T's
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