These are the good old days
I don’t know about you, but I worry. I worry about things that I should worry about. I worry about things that I shouldn’t worry about. I worry about things I know I can do. I worry about things I can’t control. I worry about events that may never happen. I worry about things that have already happened. Perhaps it’s the human condition to exist in a state of worry, and no doubt it served an evolutionary purpose (I still worry about the growling sounds in the bushes), but at some point those worries stack up, and you need a way out before it’s all too much.
For me, the way out is a mantra.
I’ve shared it with others before but never publicly.
It’s something I tell myself.
These are the good old days.
What does that mean?
It means as hard as things are right now, someday a future version of me will look back on the current version of me and say – boy, that guy had it pretty good. Why did he worry so much? He was right in the middle of his good old days!
Why am I telling you this?
Because I know I’m not alone. I may know you already. We might be strangers. It doesn’t matter. If any of what I just wrote spoke to you at all, if you go through life more than 80 percent worried and less than 20 percent amused, and you want to reverse the ratio, I want you to know that:
If you have kids and no free time…
If you have a house and it’s never clean…
If you can’t sleep in the middle of the night because you care too much…
If there are still unpacked boxes in the basement…
If you’re worried about the bills…
If you have a job that is harder than you ever thought it would be…
If there is food under your car seat that no longer resembles food…
If your kid has nightmares and keeps waking you up…
If you’re so swamped by life you haven’t seen a movie in a theater since Avatar…
If you have best friends and don’t see them often enough…
If you have a mortgage…
If you lose your job but maintain your integrity…
If it saddens you that your parents are aging…
If the dishes are piled up but you have to help the kids with homework…
If your plane is delayed on the way to vacation…
If you have to put your old dog down…
If no one thanks you for all the hard work you do…
If your kid is in trouble at school for something that will make her great at life…
If you can’t seem to lose those last 10 pounds…
If you’re saving for college…
If the kitchen renovation took three months longer than the guy said it would…
If your industry is going through a lot of change…
If you’re embarrassed about milestone birthdays…
If your kid is in tears after losing the championship game…
If you don’t have enough money for that trip to Europe but you’ve been to 12 piano recitals…
If you’ve loved so many people you have to go to a lot of funerals…
If you are called to stand before God and those you love to give a eulogy for a life well lived…
And if you can walk on your own two legs down a path in the woods on a fall day…
If you can hold your spouse’s hand and watch the sun set…
If you can feel the sun shining on your skin in the spring…
If you can ride a bike in the country…
If you have inside jokes with your kids…
If people gravitate to you at parties…
If you can make others laugh…
If you have a sibling who is like a best friend…
If you have a best friend who is like a sibling…
If you can cook a thing that everyone loves…
If people at work know you’re the one who can help…
If you can go to a ball game on a warm night…
If there’s a song you can karaoke that brings down the house…
If your body works like it’s supposed to…
If people trust you…
If you’ve never been more exhausted yet lived with more purpose…
If you are free…
If you can breathe…
If you’re doing the best you can, man…
These are the good old days.
If you have an “If you…” of your own to add, please leave a comment, friend.
If you enjoyed this piece … check out:
Sometimes I worry that I am getting old and life is passing me by. I'm only 36 and live a very full life so it isn't really true. I tell myself that there are a lot of 100 year olds out there who would kill to be 80. Even more 80 year olds out there who would kill to be 60, and a huge amount of 60 year olds out there who would kill to be 36. I know for certain that I wouldn't want to be in my 20s again, and being 60, 80 or 100 doesn't sound so bad anymore if you can come to terms with what comes after.
Thanks… I re logged in then copy pasted a note and made it a post.. I’ll do the subscriber function later…