I really do think more than a normal person. Most people put on music, talk on the phone or find someway to occupy their mind. I on the other hand process everything. When I do listen to music it is to help me focus, but it keeps me from processing. This works well for me at the gym. With out music I can easily talk myself out of being at the gym. I might get an idea that would make me want to go home and research further. When I drive I am processing. When I am trying to fall asleep I am working on something in my head. Sometimes I put on my headphones and listen to an audiobook until I fall asleep.

Most of the good ideas I have are found through this process of weeding out the bad. This all happens while I am thinking. Maybe thinking to much is not so bad.

Sometime my wife says I talk to much when we are spending time together but I do it to keep my mind on her and off of other things. I can talk and think at the same time if I am not talking fast enough. Two way conversations with people can get hard if there are distractions around. I love to listen so when I meet with people it has to be in a quiet place or a loud place. If it’s in between there are to many opportunities to hear everything.

Although it may sound like I am complaining about the way I handle visual and audible information I actually like it because I am paying attention. I think it is to easy to not pay attention and miss most of what the world has on display to see and hear. Some people would say that I just described byself as having Adult ADD but I think to blame it on that would discounting what God has given me. He has given me the ability to care and enjoy life and I thank him daily for that.

This week seems to be a very difficult one for many people around me. Every day I get on Facebook and Myspace to check the recent updates from the people who are in my friends list (yes I actually do still check Myspace but only once or twice a week). From what I can see, people are going through tough things in life. Some are overwhelmed with work and school, or lost their job, or didn’t get funding for something. When it rains it pours, right? I am not writing because I have an answer or solution to those specific situations. Most of it I can not relate to. The struggles I have been through are different. All I do know is that I can try to be some sort of encouragement or at the very least post a LOLCat image to their Facebook wall to make them smile. All in all, I have noticed that stress and worry seems to consume the current state of many of those in my sphere.

Some of the posts I have read this week look like this:

“Monday, I hate you!”
“This week = EPIC FAIL!”
“If this week continues to go this way someone please kill me.”

Sometimes I feel like I don’t worry enough. I was told when I was young that nothing is worth worrying over to the point that it effects your health or others around you. When I was 17, I read a book titled, “Stop Worrying and Start Living.” (It’s only $11, go buy it.) When you read books like that at a young age it is easier for them to have an impact on your life. I read inspirational and self help books all of the time and it is hard to be impacted by what I read because I am older and less likely to change. What I remember from the book is the idea that worrying about something that has no potential to put me in a situation I would not be able to get out of is a waste of my energy. Since I was 17 I have lost jobs, had businesses fail, lost relationships, family members, friends and the list goes on. The trials are painful but I can not worry about them nor can I worry about the possibilities of one of them happening again. What I can do is take action to prevent it knowing that if it does end up happening despite my efforts I can take the hit and move on. The key is understanding that you will survive. It’s not the end of the world. That was something I needed to know and understand when I was that age. I just don’t worry and it drives my wife crazy. I used to worry about a bill that was due. I would sit there at 10pm wondering how I am going to pay that. The reality is that there is nothing I can do at 10pm about that bill. It will still be there in the morning so there is no point in worrying about it now. Save that for the morning when I can actually do something about it.

I am also not in the place to try and help everybody in their situations. Though I am friends online with these people, many of them I am not friends with IRL (in real life); or maybe I am but not good enough friends to toss that kind of advice at them. The funny thing is that we have all worried before and realized that we were worrying for no reason. Worry never produces fruit. Taking action does.

To anyone who reads this: Know that you are strong beyond what you can even comprehend. The next time a situation presents itself choose to take action instead of worrying about it. If the only action you can take at the moment is to sit down and take a deep breath, do that and only that. If you can’t get over the situation, find something to do that will take your mind off of it. I often go to the gym and listen to loud music. Don’t be destructive. If you can not change it, accept it and move on.

How do you handle stress and worry?

Earlier this month I had made a goal to work remotely as often as possible (i.e. Not from my home office). With the iPhone 3.1 software update breaking Internet Tethering on the iPhone I have had to work from my home office more often then I would like to. AT&T also made me mad when they switched my Internet Wireless Card account from unlimited internet to the 200MB plan with out telling me. I can go through 200MB in about 10 minutes. So as of current I will be working remotely from as many Starbucks as I possibly can with out becoming to much of a regular at any given location. With my Starbucks Gold Card, I get internet access at any of the Starbucks locations. Working remotely from anywhere was suppose to be one of my new adventures this year but until AT&T gets their act together and allows internet tethering on the iPhone once again, I am confined to the Wifi radius of a Starbucks. Sad but true.