It is not really that the quality
of events alter; it is merely that one is losing vitality, and
parting with the irresponsible hopefulness that did not allow one
to brood, simply because there were so many other interesting and
delightful things going on.
One must attack the disease, for it is a disease, at the root; and
it is of little use to shrink timidly from the particular evil,
because when it is gone, another will take its place. We may pray
for courage, but we must practise it; and the best way of meeting
particular fears is to cultivate interests, distractions,
amusements, which may serve to dispel them. We cannot begin to do
that while we are under the dominion of a particular fear, for the
strength of fear lies in its dominating and nauseating quality, so
that it gives us a dreary disrelish for life; but if we really wish
to combat it, we must beware of inactivity; it may be comfortable,
as life goes on, to cultivate a habit of mild contemplation, but it
is this very habit of mind which predisposes us to anxiety when
anxiety comes.
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