Your check writing analogy is a good one to help people really think about what they're wasting their energy thinking about ;) I gave up worrying and stressing and negativity years ago because I just knew that I felt better when I stayed positive.
My dad was a farmer, and I have vivid memories of him pacing from window to window in the house, when a big storm was coming. He had a cigarette in one hand and a rye in the other, but I particularly remember this huge vein popping out on the side of his forehead. Of course, his livelihood was at stake, but regardless, I always remember thinking that all of his worrying wasn't going to change the course of weather. Like all of us, I learned from my parents, and from my dad, I learned to worry, but in my 20's I realized the futility in stewing about things we cannot change. Since then, I've spent my life being proactive and focusing on change that is positive whenever I've encountered problems.
Thank you for the thought provoking post; your message is a good one, in life, and on this platform.
Any special plans for Christmas? Although whenever anyone asks me that, I tell them living here is like receiving a daily present ;)
I can relate to worrying about crops when a storm is coming. Been there myself.
It's hard for my friends to believe, but I used to be a chronic worrier. Ten a friend taught me to write down everything I worried about for three months. After the three months passed he asked me to make a check mark next to each worry on my list that actually manifested.
Turns out only 1 out 10 things I had worried about actually happened.
He then told me to remember all the energy I had spent worrying about those things that never came to pass. 90% of what I have worried about didn't happen at all. He then told me to imagine redirecting all that wasted energy towards the 10% of the things that were actually worth worrying about and how much more effective that would be.
That little exercise changed my life forever.
Right now, I'm barely surviving on Steem with the price so low. I'm on the other side of the planet away from home, still in Thailand and going to Vietnam on the 1st. I should be worried and most my friends would understand if I was.
But hell, I'm not going to starve with meals costing only a dollar. Hostels on the beach are only $5/day in Vietnam. I'll be alright. The plan is to dig in and save some money for a flight back to Mexico where I'll find a job again.
Life is good and it all works out. Worrying doesn't really help at all so why do it? Be happy.
That is a great exercise! Funny how making "worry" into something tangible shows how futile it all is! I'm with you though; life always has a way of working itself out :)
Have a Merry Christmas if I don't talk to you before then! Be happy :)