Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.

Fear that arrives early and gets acted on is the useful kind. It differs from anxiety, which circles without producing anything; provident fear looks ahead, names the specific thing that could go wrong, then does something small about it now. Once the danger is close, fear stops being a tool and becomes an obstacle. The value lies entirely in the timing.

Take a worry that has been floating around and give it a shape: what exactly could happen, and what would reduce it. Then do the cheapest version of that this week. A worry converted into a task usually stops waking you up.