Guiding Light: Worry Doesn’t Power Your World!

It’s not often in the modern age that you don’t have a deadline looming or several seemingly ‘urgent’ all vying for your attention. And the outcomes, of course, can have a bearing on everything from your next house to your next holiday, so it’s natural to be worried about them. Whilst some concern can be a useful aid to keep you on track, excessive worrying is obviously counterproductive, draining your energy and attention into the sinkhole that is dealing with the potential consequences of failure, or perhaps conjuring Plan B.

Life is all about striking a balance, and it’s extremely important to be able to take things in your stride to make progress. Stress has become a modern reality with our ambitions being so bold, and the stakes so high. Stress can manifest in not just physical health problems, but also severely impact your mental health, causing you to start doubting yourself and affecting your overall sense of well being. It is therefore extremely important to not let financial success be the only dimension which defines your self-worth, for it can start playing tricks on the mind. After all, the economics of life is such that we spend far more time saving for experiences, than actually being able to enjoy them, which probably equates to not such a great return on investment (ROI) in any case!

A pattern interrupt helps you disconnect and reset, and holidays are of course a great option. However we also need to regularly be able to do that during the course of our work week. Weekends are a great way to invest time in yourself and find a way to feel centred again, whether that’s through a hobby, a spiritual practice, or just spending time in nature. In a world which is pulsing with stimuli, you simply can’t overstate the importance of spending time with yourself.

Success largely consists of being able to put the demands that your different roles place on you, in perspective, and calibrating your response to situations rather than reacting to them. Becoming good at this, like most other things, comes with practice. Some of us are naturally programmed to be able to take things in our stride, and some others will let worry weigh on their minds more than they ought to. The secret lies in realising that the only way to navigate through life successfully is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable!