I was talking to a colleague today from my office and then we spoke about how he would do budgeting in percentages and he would only think about stuff in percentages. We were then going to eat something and then I was talking about 10$ or 15$ and stuff like that, he told me don't zoom life so much that you forget the big picture about life. It's more important to care about the percentages, suppose if you decide to spend 5% of your money on food, it does not matter if its 5.1% but it does matter only if its 15-20%+ when you decided 5%. So he told me not to zoom life so much but too zoom out and view the big picture. That's when I realised that all of us somedays are so concerned about the little things that happen in life, whether it's the traffic you found while travelling or going somewhere, whether its a work colleague who told you something that you didn't like hearing or whether it was a friend who made fun of you and you didn't take the joke well, whatever it is, we all somedays on occasions sweat the small stuff. Today I am going tell you that it's all small stuff.
So what is this small stuff ? Small stuff is the daily issues of life, as I would repeat here, whether that's traffic, somedays you say something silly in a meeting come home and overthink, somedays you get involved in a fight with your colleague over something that's not even impactful, and think about it for hours? But the truth is this is all the small stuff. As in Hindi we say, "Aisa sab hote rehta hai", which means these kind of things keep happening, don't worry about them.
Think about it for a while, let's say you had a problem with one of your coworker and then you fought over it, think about what it does to the environment, you wouldn't be super productive neither your colleague would be, and that would destroy the atmosphere within the team. Rather than a conflict, think about the long term goal, not the short term, not the now, but think 1 year from now, is this conflict really going to matter? Most possibly the answer is no.
The above quote I have read it multiple times, even during the school. This is a very good food for thought, now let's start by thinking this, we have 86,400$ in our account and someone stole 10$ from it. You would be left with 86,390$. Would you give all those 86,390$ just to get the 10$ back? Not right? You would just move on and live right? So it's the same with life as well. We have 86,400 seconds in our day, so why let 10 bad seconds ruin the 86,390 seconds you have. Focus on what you have, you still have the 86,390 seconds in your hand and work on that. That's what life is about, don't sweat the small stuff and remember it's all small stuff.
Whenever you start caring too much about the small stuff, ask the question will this matter a year from now? If not then don't worry about it at all. Why worry about something that's not even going to matter a year from now.
Don't see sweaty the small stuff, not even the big stuff, at the end off the day, none of it matters but your own joy and your own spiritual journey that you go on, God, your loved ones, your friends and animals. These things are to be cherished and loved. All the other things in life is small stuff and rather the big things in life is also small stuff.
Why is it that we should really not worry about the small stuff as much? How can it really help us?
1. Reduces Stress: Whenever we get annoyed or angry over the minute details, we feel stressed. Rather it's important to just let things go as it is and feel relaxed and energised.
2. Improves health: As a result of the reduced stress, your health is naturally improved. As you feel less stressed, you would feel more relaxed, and more relaxed you feel, the more easy it is to eat well, sleep well and exercise well.
3. Focus on the important things: Because we are so consumed by the little things, we forget the important things about life. When we don't sweat the small stuff, we are able to focus on the important things rather than the trivial details.
4. Performance increases: Your performance increases in every area of life when the small things don't annoy or distract you. This is a whole cycle, you eat well, you feel happier, and you feel happier, you interact well with people and if you interact well you learn more, and once you learn more you grow more in every area of your life.
5. Strategic Thinking: When you don't sweat the small stuff, you start thinking strategically rather than in terms of the small issues we face daily. So what I would say rather is to think long term and naturally these small issues of life will be taken a less seriously by you.
6. Not taking things personally: When life gets tough, when things don't go your way, you wouldn't take things very personally, in fact you would call that as small stuff and move on doing the next thing.
So the question is how do we really and practically not worry about the small stuff?
1. Think long term: One strategy is to think long term, think in terms of one year or 2 years or 5 years from now on. The small annoyances in life are not that important but it's the long term goal that matters a more.
2. Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness is all about being in the moment free of judgement. It is not good or bad, it is just what it is. This will help you stay grounded and not worry about those little things.
3. Develop coping mechanisms: Sometimes there are stresses that cannot be avoided altogether, so in such a case find a coping mechanism that helps you cope with the stress. One such thing would be physical exercise, another thing would be sports, or maybe even meditation for that matter. Whatever works for you spend some time in the day to do that.
4. Set Boundaries: It's very important to set your boundaries, if you don't like something say it. If you don't think you can work after 6:00 say it and let other people respect it. Setting boundaries is an important part of prioritising mental health.
5. Focus on gratitude: In the everyday hustles of life, we forget about what we already have. We forget about all these small things that we have and that makes us worry a little more. So keep your focus on what you have rather than worrying too much about what you want.
But personally, what really works for me is to think long term as it will eliminate the small things or problems that we have in life.
I hope you start practicing mindfulness also and start thinking long term that will be the best way to focus on things that truly matter and let go of things that don't matter. Have a wonderful day !
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