What do you worry about?

Are you a worrier? What do you worry about? As I have gotten older, I find myself worrying more. Perhaps that’s because I know more and understand what can happen? I don’t know. But when I find myself worrying about what might or might not happen, I ask myself two questions.

First, I ask if it’s something I can control. Often it’s something I can’t control. I can’t control what other people do; I can’t control what companies or the weather do; I can only control how I react to whatever it is and how I let myself be affected by it. So if I have no control, why waste energy worrying about it?

Second, I ask if it will matter five years from now. Usually I decide that in five years, this incident will not matter at all in the grand scheme of things, so again, why waste energy worrying about it?

There are a lot of things in life we can’t control; there are some things we can. I live by the maxim of expect the best but plan for the worst. But I no longer spend time and energy worrying about what might happen if it’s something I can’t control.