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?
