People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins, they wonder whether they are catching cold. (John Jay Chapman)
Can I ever really stop worrying? Will I worry that I’m not worrying? This quote really speaks to the heart of who a person is–the cup is half full or half empty debate. I’m not sure if it’s a nature versus nurture deal or what, but some people, no matter how blue the sky is or how bright the sun, can only worry about when the next storm will come. I was talking with my sister and mother this past weekend about how difficult it is to stay in the now, to realize that there’s only two situations–the past and the now. There is no certainty for a future, why worry about it? Why taint the gift of the present with the impossible task of foretelling the future. Sure we all like to think there’s at least some aspect of the future that’s set in stone, but really there’s not. Savings accounts, insurance premiums, and so forth are put into place to absorb the risk we all take on a day-to-day basis because the future is such an unknown variable in our every day lives. I guess what I’m saying is this: it’s smart to prepare ourselves for the future but don’t fool yourself into ruining the present because you’re worrying about something that, chances are, will never come to pass.
What you resist persists