I wish I hadn’t wasted all that energy
“Christina, I wish I hadn’t wasted all that energy.”
I was sitting across from my client, a talented woman who was actively looking for a new job after losing her job. She had seen it coming. Her company had been acquired, and the acquiring company had been slowly reducing headcount in her organization, quarter by quarter. Finally it was her turn.
From the moment the acquisition was announced, she worried. She worried about keeping her job. She worried about her job changing. She worried about losing her job. She worried about everyone around her.
It was understandable. With the threat of layoffs looming for over a year, everyone around her had been acting in panic, too. With some, it came out as aggression, manifesting as unwillingness to collaborate, anger, and frustration. Others had withdrawn, heads down in the work, not initiating anything, pretending like they could make themselves invisible to the looming changes.
And so my client’s response was to worry. Worry about herself, her future, and everyone around her. She worried so hard it impacted her health, her relationships, her ability to enjoy the good things around her.
But now, in hindsight, she realized that the worry hadn’t done her any good. The “worst” had happened, and now she was on the other side. It wasn’t easy, being out of work and trying to get traction in a tough job market, but she was free from the worry about what might happen.
“Christina, I wish I hadn’t wasted all that energy.”
As Corrie Ten Boom said, “Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
Sometimes, thinking through what may come and how we may handle it is helpful. Finding agency today to help us shape tomorrow, taking action to set ourselves up for a better future, can be empowering.
But worry is something different. It’s continuing to dwell on our fears of what might happen, living in it as though it already is happening. And that steals more than time. It activates our nervous system, impacts our ability to be present in our own lives, and sucks time away from other efforts. Without any gain.
Where do you want to shift from worry to agency?
May 28, 2026
About the author:
Christina Von Stroh is a leadership coach who helps her clients become wildly successful by applying iterative software development practices to achieve their dreams. Want to work with Christina to help you iterate towards the person you’re becoming?
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