Submitted by Tierney Sharpe on
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What does worrying achieve? Nothing: you can neither create anything from it or achieve anything from it. In fact as research shows, it loses things, like time, makes you angry, makes you scared.
Bucket of boltsGrab yourself a bag of bolts and a bucket. Drop one bolt, then another. Not much happens. One or two worries doesn’t change much of what happens in your life. But, let’s see what happens when things start to add them up:-
(Drop one bolt for every time there is a worry or stress)
You are taking a flight:
You worry about waking up on time to get to the airport, you worry about getting a cab, you worry about others getting the baggage into the plane, you worry about the plane taking off, you worry about the person snoring, child screaming, that fat person sitting in front of you that has rolled his seat back and is now crushing your legs and giving you leg cramps. You worry about the plane getting there on time, you worry about the plane landing without some accident, you worry that no-one will meet you at the airport, you worry that the plane will be late, you worry that your baggage is lost, you worry that the hotel loses your reservation. You just worry.
At work:
You worry about getting to work on time, you worry about the person in their car that insists on going too slow, you worry about the amount of work in your in tray, you worry that you get it done in time, you worry about the phone ringing, the outfit you’ve worn, the cold you think someone has that you may get, you worry about the boss thinking you are not doing a good enough job. You worry so much about the in tray that you work through lunch time. You worry about the printer that jams, the coffee machine that does not work, the rain that you have to race through to get to your car at the end of the day. You are exhausted with worry.
At home
You worry about getting a meal on time, you worry about your food burning as you cook it, you worry about the kids and what they should be eating and what they should be doing, you worry that they do their homework, you worry that your husband or wife that is looking at you a little strange and you are wondering why. You worry about getting enough sleep, keeping the place tidy, missing your favourite program. You worry about having enough money, enough food and enough rent or mortgage to keep you in a home. The list is endless.
Have a look at the weight of these bolts in the bucket. These are the worries that weigh you down constantly.
What does this achieve? Absolutely NOTHING. Because worry is stress and what happens – you become a stress bunny full of bolts. Stress wrecks your life.
Let’s look at life a little differently. Take each moment as an observer. Everything can be adapted to change your attitude and your life worries to be none or nearly none. No worries, no stress.
An example of this:- Your work day – leave 10 minutes earlier. When someone cuts you off or jumps in front of you in a queue, let them do it. What has it cost you? 3 or even 6 seconds? In the great scheme of things not much. You have probably done exactly the same yourself on another day. It is their day to do it. Let them have their little bolt with weight attached to it. When you get to work, look at your in tray. Prioritise it. What has to be done, what needs to be done, and what can wait a day or two. Then do the priority first, work down the stack but do not forget about the ones that can wait a day or two. They will end up in the priority stack. This takes about 2 minutes. Your brain then knows what to concentrate on. Your brain then can allocate and work away getting things done. Your brain can see a light at the end of the tunnel. It has been proven you work better and faster by not worrying about what’s there. Just doing your job. This goes to all work. Look at what you really do need to do first and do it. Don’t worry about it, just do it.
Move away from your desk at lunch time. This gives your brain a breather, a rest and more important lets the brain pause so it can refresh itself. When you have your lunch at your desk, you are not letting your brain rest and you will find you will perform worse and do less work than if you had a break. This includes breaks when you just cannot find an answer to a problem. Walk away. Let your brain cruise on neutral for a moment, take a breath, get a drink of water and lo and behold when you get back to your desk, the problem is solved within a couple of minutes.
You cannot change anyone’s opinion of you or their thought pattern because really it’s none of your business what another thinks of you or what they do. You cannot change it, why bother even worrying about it. You know the truth and you’re not such a bad person but it’s only their opinion and they are a thinking, reacting and are a resourceful person themselves and they will find the truth eventually. May not be today but it shouldn’t be any of your business anyway so why worry about someone else’s opinion of you? A fact of life is that you can only persuade by your actions. You cannot force anyone else to change without their consent. It is their life, get over it.
By being the observer of everything you do, you become free of worry, of stress, of miscommunication. Look at life through a magnifying glass and start to see that everyone is not after you, they are living their world and maybe they are frightened themselves. Do you scare people? If you do, you are creating stress in another person’s life. Be kind. Observe yourself and the reactions from others and see the truth. Set yourself free to see.
When you have buckets of bolts of worry, they torture you, they weigh you down and in turn create stress in your life. Let go of these bolts of worry and set yourself free. “Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens. Not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thought, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst…A spark that creates extraordinary results.”
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