What Are You Worried About?
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
My greatest fear is that I will get to the end of my life, look back, and think to myself, “What on earth was I so worried about?”
This realization hit me like a train as my 25th birthday approached, and when I looked at the first half of my twenties, I realized I spent so much of it WORRYING ABOUT NOTHING. I know this experience is not unique to me; it’s a normal (yet troubling) part of our human condition.
"My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened."
~ Michel de Montaigne
de Montaigne said that five hundred years ago. As of 2015, this was still an issue for lots of people. A study found that…
Lo and behold, it turns out that 85 percent of what subjects worried about never happened, and with the 15 percent that did happen, 79 percent of subjects discovered either they could handle the difficulty better than expected, or the difficulty taught them a lesson worth learning. This means that 97 percent of what you worry over is not much more than a fearful mind punishing you with exaggerations and misperceptions.
When I reflect on why I’ve spent so much of my life worrying, it boils down to a desire to be perceived as a “good girl” or someone who does the right thing.
The tricky part is that, no matter what you do, there will always be people who don’t agree with who you are. And, no matter how hard we try to control the narrative of how we occur in the world, it’s just not in our hands. It’s not supposed to be.
The more I’ve reflected on this, the more I’ve noticed instances in which worrying about my life has not only robbed me happiness but also my performance. The more time I spend in my analytical mind judging myself and others, the less time I spend being present in the things I am actually doing.
High performance isn’t just about results. It’s about the quality of those results.
If you aren’t present in the life happening right in front of you, you will never reach the full potential of what’s possible.
The good news? Being fully present is a lot more fun than constantly trying to “figure it out”.
So get out there and be here now! Because that’s literally the only thing we are guaranteed. Your performance and happiness will thank you later.
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