Sunday, November 29, 2015

Dear Worrier

Dear Worrier,

It will all be okay.  Maybe not now, but eventually.


I myself am very much a worrier.  I worry about every little thing possible.  Literally.  I worry about not waking up in time for class, what I'm going to eat for dinner, who I am going to hangout with for the evening, what outfit I'm going to wear, what other people think of me, and the list goes on.  Heck, I'm already worried about having to stand up and present my final design project in May (hello, that's 6 months away).  My worries are endless.  It's just ridiculous!

I am the type of person who thinks up the absolute worst outcome of every situation.  Growing up, it was always important to me to not have high expectations, because in my head, I was only setting myself up for disappointment.  So how do I achieve this? Simple.  Rather than thinking of good outcomes, I think of the complete opposite.  I think of every possible thing that could go wrong. Every single way in which a situation could bring pain, failure, just anything terrible.  Isn't this awful? I mean on one end, I was never disappointed! I was often very pleasantly surprised with how not-awful things turned out.  But while doing this, I caused myself so much stress and anxiety for weeks moving into any upcoming event in my life, because in my head it was about to be the end of the world.

So I'm not going to sit here and tell you to stop being ridiculous, because I am a prime example of not letting go of things.  I am going to tell you, however, to try your best.  This is something that I have been working on, and will continue to work on for a very long time.  It takes lots of time to master. No one will ever simply wake up one morning completely worry free (I wish that was the case), it takes a ton of work, as well as dedication.  You have to train your way of thinking.  So start with this, when worry begins to take over, you really have two options.  You can either change it, or let it go.  If you are unhappy with something, change it! That drawer in the bottom of your dresser has you 50 shades of stressed every time you go to open it? Set aside 10 extra minutes to reorganize.  You will feel so much better. Most of the time, however, we worry about things we have absolutely zero control over.  How in the world is my best friend's neighbors cat's brother going to get to school a week from Tuesday? I don't know.  But that is not my job to know.  And I guarantee right now somebody reading this is worried about how that example does not at all apply to their life, but you know what? You can't change it, so let it go.  Life would be 1,000 times better if we could cut down our worries even by just 50%.  So it is something that I am going to continue to work on, and it is something we should all strive for. Because I promise you, all of those awful situations I put in my head when I was younger, ZERO of them were actually ever that bad.  I'm serious.  100% of the situations that fail in my head work out so much better in the end.  So there goes a hundred hours that I will never get back because I was worrying about things that didn't exist.  Just don't do that to yourself! That is no way to live!

If you have any suggestions about worrying less, leave a comment! I would love to hear other opinions on this! It is definitely something I will write more about in the future.

So this week I challenge everyone to put their worries aside, at least for a little bit.  Try going for a walk, or do some yoga, whatever it is you need to do to clear your mind for a while.

And I will end by telling you to check out one of my favorite songs, "Why Worry" by a band called Set It Off.  Really listen to the lyrics.  "Why do we insist, on crossing bridges that do not exist... When worry is never helping then tell me why? Why worry at all?" It's really true, and it helps.  So have a great week everyone! Remember, you have two options: change it, or let it go.    

Yours Truly,
Pantless Sunday's                                

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