or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindsides you at 4:00 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
this one’s pretty easy for me. in a two-way street sort of way. i’ll explain. i worry all the time. seriously. i worry i’m going bald. i worry i’m going crazy. i worry my wrists are way, way worse off than i think they are, and one day very soon i won’t be able to write legibly any more and will be forced to only type for the rest of my life…which will mean that eventually i’ll be typing with my eyes. cause they can do that $#*& now. i’m just sayin’. i worry i’ll have no retirement, i worry that i’ll never see the world, or at the very least, never leave this continent. i worry i don’t get enough sleep. that i get too much sleep. that i paid too much for a mattress that is already letting me down, less than three years later. *sigh* you see where this is going.
frankly, it’d drive me, and my bf, insane. if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s much, much, much better at not worrying than i am. and from the very beginning of our relationship, he starting trying to teach me how to not worry. and whenever i am, he gently guides me back to reality. a gentle nudge that usually sounds a whole lot like the algebra and the bubble gum analogy.
and he’s right. i know he’s right. and you know what? i – and everyone else – would be a lot better off if we could all remember that. worrying doesn’t change the future. it just takes away from the present. does that mean we should all float aimlessly through life, that nothing bad is gonna happen? no. but it does mean that no matter how bad (or not so bad) something that may or may not happen to us might or might not be, worrying about it isn’t going to help. because it’s always going to be the thing you didn’t worry about.
that thing that blindsides you at 4:00 on some idle tuesday.
happy tuesday! go forth and don’t worry!
don’t worry about the future