To worry in vain
To fret helplessly
The branch was tantalizingly out of reach.
What Epictetus would say is sitting at home worrying about that would be wrong and wasteful and irrational.

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Open the tool →干着急 (gān zháo jí) means “to worry in vain, to fret helplessly”.
干着急 is pronounced gān zháo jí in Mandarin Chinese.
“To worry in vain” is 干着急 (gān zháo jí) in Chinese.
This page has 2 example sentences using 干着急, each with pinyin and an English translation.