I got hooked again. It happens all the time. Something happens or someone says something, and I get all bound up in knots. I’m not necessarily trying or able to rectify anything. It just sticks to me like wet toilet paper on my shoe, and I carry it around with me, often without even knowing it. Caring Worrying about insignificant things, or things we have absolutely no control over, can tear us up (and, though I don’t have any science to back it up, I’m sure it can shorten our life, let alone make it more miserable).
I often wonder if I’m the only who seems to care worry so much about stuff. “The devil is in the details.” But how deep into the details should we go? And at what point does it stop being fruitful, and instead becomes just an exercise in obsessions and exhaustion?
Then there are those little flippant comments people throw about so lazily (I hate it when I do that). I can carry around for days some little flippent remark someone says in passing (or something I said without really thinking it through, and obsess over my regret). A few times I’ve tried approaching someone to get clarification or to inform them how their remark hurt. More often than not, one of two things happen: 1) they don’t remember the comment, and then they get offended that I’m calling them out for it; or 2) they get offended and defensive because I’ve called them out for it. Either way, was it worth getting all worked up about? I’m guessing 95% of the time the answer is an emphatic, “No.”
“Choose your battles wisely,” as the saying goes. Some things just aren’t worth pursuing. But, do an internet search for “How to stop caring/fretting/worrying.” A ton of articles and blog posts pop up, which tells me, I’m not the only one dealing with this stuff. Anxiety seems prevalent, according to what I’m reading. Is that what I and so many of us have? Why does it seem so common? Have we humans always been like this? Or is this a side affect of our modern world? So how to stop worrying?
I’ve watched the news since I was a teenager. Nearly every evening, our TV is on with national and local news. We watch it like some people watch Big Bang Theory, except Big Bang Theory is only 30 minutes long (and sadly in its last season). Has it become an obsession? Where’s the marker for that? Lately, the news has gotten to me. I find myself exhausted watching it. It could be that so much so-called “news” is really just talking heads waxing eloquently (or not so much) about what “could be,” and offering very little actual news. Listen carefully next time you watch the national news. Are they really reporting the news? Or are they spending more time trying to predict the future?
I realize I need to be more judicious about what I allow into my life, and into my brain. Even the Bible, which I read both for my own inspiration and for my occupation, can become a source of stress. I can’t help read Jesus’ parable about the so-called “good” Samaritan and think about all the people fleeing warring nations and trying desperately to get somewhere safe, only to be met by barbed wires, roadblocks, and negative attitudes towards them—yet, even that is still better than what they left. These people know anxiety! I have a lot to learn from our immigrant neighbors.
“First world problems,” I hear people say. Things like: There’s more, I’m sure. What I realize now is that my anxiety over watching the news on my 55″ flat screen TV is, in itself, a first world problem. The bandwidth to worry about insignificant things—as opposed to the basic necessities like food, water, and shelter—are all from the luxury of the first world. What are your “first world problems”? Feel free to share them in the comments below and share how maybe you can redirect your thinking and anxiety.