On Friday, I assured the cashier at the grocery store I was there just to pick up a few things, not because of the storm forecast. Things were busy so we couldn’t have a long conversation but it would have been an interesting one.
Folks started worrying about the storm coming on Sunday nearly a week before it was predicted. I’d started receiving emails from students of adult courses starting a week after the storm. “What happens when it snows?” I was tempted to reply, “The ground turns white.”
Maybe age creates perspective or at least some relative “mellowness.” I tend not to worry too much about some things. I’m not bragging. Some might say I’m apathetic. But worrying about a forecasted snowstorm isn’t a priority for me. I like the idea that we each have a worry box that will only hold so much. So when something gets added something else gets taken out.
That’s meant to demonstrate that worrying is ultimately about choices and priorities. If I’m going to worry about this storm, I’ll need to stop worrying about something else… or at least move that something else down the priority list while I run to the store for bread and milk.
While considering this, it was strangely ironic that Seth Godin’s daily blog post included the observation, “Run out of chocolate, and that’s a shame. Run out of oxygen and you’re doomed.”
Seth Godin
“Run out of chocolate, and that’s a shame. Run out of oxygen and you’re doomed.”
Perspective—there are times when it needs to rise to a level of consciousness. As the storm started, one Facebook post that caught my eye was by a mom who had picked up her kids from an activity. She was announcing how bad the roads were. A friend commented, “Be careful but get home quickly before it gets worse.” She replied that she and the kids were headed home but needed to stop at the store first. I wondered why. Was it for bread and milk?
While it’s become a joke, people do try to make sure they don’t run out of bread and milk by “stocking up” when a storm is predicted.
While it makes sense to plan and prevent, Abraham Lincoln is alleged to have observed that he’d crossed a lot of bridges in his life but he never crossed one before he came to it. I wonder, if he was alive today, would he rush to the store for bread and milk if a storm was forecast?
If we’re stuck in the house and can’t get to the store for a day or two how bad will life be if we run out of bread and milk? If we do, it will be a shame. But we won’t be doomed.
Worry can be positive because it protects us as long as we keep our worry in perspective. But we do well when we understand that worry is an emotion or feeling. Our feelings can affect how we think. But how we think also can affect how we feel.
There’s a third component to consider. The “doing” component. We are perfectly imperfect human beings so the thinking, feeling, doing stuff tends to overlap and can get complicated. One of my fundamental beliefs is that because we are human beings we have the magnificent ability to get the three components working together.
At school, when we want the kids to engage in what’s called “higher levels of thinking,” we’ll sometimes say, “Let’s put our thinking caps on.” The kids then join the teacher in placing an imaginary hat firmly on their heads, then pretending to buckle the chin strap. Unfortunately, we seem to stop using the technique after second or third grade.
When we start running it’s easy to forget to think. We might end up letting our emotions get the best of us. That will impact how we think and what we do. You’ve heard of people being paralyzed by fear. How far are the emotions of worry and fear separated?
So today is Sunday and the weather outside is frightful. Most of the churches have announced no services today. Emergency services folks are encouraging us to stay home. Even the local McDonald’s is closed—is that scary? I’ll bet it will be even more difficult than usual to order a pizza to be delivered.
But it might just be a good day to spend some time considering how you think, feel, and do about things. I hope you’ll discover the possibilities. There are a lot of things we can’t do because of this storm. But there are a lot of things we can do, too. We could worry about tomorrow, particularly if we’re low on bread and milk. Just remember, that’s a choice.