When worry grows like mould

Two of today’s house inspections were about the same thing. Something homeowners often worry about. Something I get asked about all the time:

Mould.

They suspect it might be in their house. Sometimes they’ve even noticed subtle symptoms they believe are connected to it.

Most of the time, my answer is the same: there’s no problem.

There might be some mould somewhere — most houses have it. But it’s rare that it becomes an actual problem, even if you take into account that people’s sensitivity varies.

After I’ve explained the facts, it’s as if both the mould and the symptoms disappear in an instant.

“Oh, thank you! I’ve been so worried.”

That’s the thing. We humans worry.

Sometimes about things we don’t understand. Sometimes because we haven’t experienced them, but our minds give us a made-up glimpse of the future.

It could be an old blog draft we never published because “we know” how it will be received. Or maybe we’ve never dared to post anything at all because “we know” others will think we’re terrible writers.

But is our assumption correct? There’s only one way to find out.

Most likely, we’ll realize how wrong we’ve been all along.