As I write these words I am back visiting my second home country, Finland.

Although I have never been a fan of the long Finnish winters, summer here is glorious. In such a large country there is a quiet forest or tranquil lakeside beach around every corner.

We have been lucky with the weather too as the sun has been shining pretty much all week. In contrast to the sunny weather though is the feeling that has come across through a whole series of recent conversations.

The most common theme has been that people are experiencing a high degree of worry at the moment. The reason for this seems to be a combination of factors.

The continued effects of COVID, the war in Europe as well as conflicts further afield, irritation with our political situation and fears about the cost of living crisis to name but a few.

Add to this any personal challenges or relationship issues and you have a whole bunch of reasons to be worried. I have been worried too.

The housing situation in Devon does not seem to be getting any better. Prospects of getting a mortgage big enough to buy a property seem slim to remote.

I watch the news on Ukraine with horror and disbelief. And we are all counting down the days until energy bills increase yet again in October.

At the same time though, it seems to me that the one thing that is not going to help any of these situations is to spend time worrying about them. I am not saying that we should be emotionless robots, but I am suggesting that it might be helpful to invest our energies in something other than plain worry.

Worrying about situations we have little control over achieves almost nothing but can be enormously debilitating. I have found that the same energy is better spent thinking about how to look after ourselves, coming up with coping strategies and refusing to give up hope.

When I look back on past situations which felt completely hopeless at the time, each one of them was eventually resolved in one way or another. There is a simple Finnish saying – ‘kaikki järjestyy’ which translates as ‘everything will get sorted out’.

I used to see that phrase as being shallow and flippant, until I recognized one day that in fact there is much truth in it.

Even though we may not be able to see the solutions ahead at the moment, that doesn’t mean they are not there.

These days I am making a conscious effort to spend less time worrying as it feels as though constant worry does more harm than good. Instead I am trying to find ways to connect with significant people, thinking how best to cope with the challenges life throws at us and holding on to the belief that as the Finnish saying tells us everything will be resolved in the end.