My mother, blessedly, is not one to give advice often. Her favorite piece is, “Only worry about things you can do something about,” which is something neither of us really succeed at. Occasionally, she will also quote the pastor of the church we attended when I was in elementary school. His adage, "Act, don’t react,” is excellent advice and fodder for another blog post.
On this glorious pre-autumnal day I find myself fraught with worry, consumed by it, almost devoured by it.
In between doing laundry and working, of course.
But the worry seems to be winning.
Fast forward to this not so glorious pre-autumnal day about a week later. Today I’m still worried about a myriad of things, including whether I’ll ever get another (decent) blog post written again. I just finished my walk (cut short because I was worrying about A. getting rained on B. everything that has to be done today) and it occurred to me I used to be so busy before we moved to the prairie I didn’t have time to worry. Oh, there was plenty of time to be stressed, overworked, and anxious but not a lot of time to fret.
Then we made a drastic lifestyle change, leaving jobs at a large university in the Mid-Atlantic region for life at a much smaller university in the Middle West, much closer to family.
One thing I never worry about is that we made the wrong decision to move.
And that alone guarantees peace of mind even when I’m stewing and stressing about… stuff.
I am also a worry wart.They say 99 % of the things we worry about don't ever happen. And about keeping busy, a wonderful kindergarten teacher of my kids once said, "A bored child is a child that will get in trouble." So she always seen that they were kept happy and busy. So, I am not one to give advice, but I say to you, "stay happy and keep busy and you won't have as much time to worry." Now, I will try to take my advice, too. Let's both try and enjoy these gorgeous pre-autumnal days.
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice, Janet!
ReplyDeleteI once heard someone remark that she saved a lot of time by not reading news articles about things that might happen, because they so rarely ever did. Now I'll have to apply that strategy to worrying.
ReplyDeleteI am also a worrier. So much so that I wrote a book on it to see if doing the research would help. Indeed, it does. But I'm a work-in-progress. You may want to check out my book; I still do. It's called THE WORRYWART'S PRAYER BOOK. It's filled with Scripture, affirmations, anecdotes and prayers to help worrywarts get off the worry-go-round and trust God more. My favorite: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fal into the heart of the sea." Psalm 46:1, 2.
ReplyDeleteMy husband also coined a good one: "Let there be no crisis before its time."
I also have a blog (and I worry that I don't keep it current enough), called THE WORRYWART'S CORNER, which might help worriers. Meantime, remember, God's in charge so give all your worries to Him. He's the only one Who can make any sense of them.