"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?" Luke 12:25-26
This is not going to be a religious post, but that verse seemed worthy to start.
People often ask me why it is that I don't fear tornadoes in Oklahoma. Indeed, I used to go out when they were near and try to see them from the porch or balcony, unless it was particularly windy and clouded. Why didn't I fear? I used to. I used to get very frenzied in my younger years. However, over the last few decades, I learned a few things. I used to say that if a tornado was going to hit you, it will.. whether you are afraid of it or not. Fear in that case was rather useless. You can take precautions, if you like. But, again.... fear is often paralyzing in your precautionary plans, too. In order to respond, you have to get over the fear and to your rational mind. Fear... is not a very good use of your energy.
In my life, I have faced a LOT of challenges that would destroy many others. When it begins to me, I have got conditioned to just stop, think rationally, and respond. Yesterday, for example, I was delivering an Ubereats delivery. This order took me far out in the boon docks away from civilization. I was 15 miles form the nearest town. The instructions of the delivery was to go down a dirt road to their house. I saw a dirt road and a house on the other side of it, so I assumed that was the road. As it turned out... and as I realized half way down the path.. the road they talked about was literally 15 feet to my right, and what I was driving on was a sand path on the side of their farm pasture. It had tracks, so I assumed it was a road, but that might have been tractor tracks. Anyway, I soon found my car dug down in the sand and not moving.
I had the opportunity and cause to fear... what would I do? Rather, I began working on one reason option or another. I tried digging my wheels out, which did very little. I tried driving over my beach chair legs for traction. No effect. I called the person I was delivering to.. they didn't have a way to get me out and wasn't free to do anything to help. So, I called for a tow ... I get 4 free per year in the Uber app. So, I googled to get the nearest address and set it up... and waited... for two hours. Luckily, I did have fuel to last me idling, so I could keep air on with record Florida temps and to keep my phone from dying. And, I had the drinks of the order that had to get canceled to drink to stay hydrated. When the guy go to me, we had to work with several different attempts to get out of the sand, and finally with my back of my car lifted from the ground by the tow truck and us both gunning our wheels, we slowly made it back to the road, and I was on my way. What COULD have paralyzed me or made me fear became an adventure for me to tell about how I overcame it, instead.
Is that how you respond to things? I'll admit that it is not always the way I do, either. Sometimes, I will get mired down in self pity or depression from reflecting on the past, or I will get mentally sidetracked by fear of what will happen in the future. But, in both cases, actual progress doesn't happen until I put that aside and actually respond to the situation in front of me with reason and determination. ALL of those options are the same mental energy being used, but only one was the correct path to actually FIX my problem or improve my situation.
You have a choice .. how do you want to use the time and energy that you are given? I used to say that if I ever were going to die, I wouldn't want to know about it. I would rather use my last days succeeding and enjoying what I could, right up to my last breath. In your life, how do you want to live your life... how do you want your days to be? Would you rather go about feeling depressed for the past, fearful for the future, paralyzed for your present.... or would you rather kick a** living life on a passionate quest right up to the end?
Another thing I used to say is this... the absolute value or worthiness of an attempt is not dependent on the success of it. I would change that, slightly as I aged, to say that you need to bring reason along and not waste your time and effort on paths that you know is not going to be successful. However, the drive to do SOMETHING...to always want to improve yourself and your surroundings.. is something that is inherent in a hopeful life. If you believe in yourself, you WILL be doing it, regardless of the success, until you cannot do it any more. That is the difference between living and gradually dying before you are dead.
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