Abstract Thoughts

They say too much of anything can be a bad thing. And while a couple of things come to mind that I can't imagine having enough of, the saying does hold a lot of weight.

Take water for example. Water is the foundation of life. The human body itself is over 80% water, yet we can literally drown ourselves from the inside out by drinking too much of it.

With that being said, it's pretty safe to assume we need to learn to find the proper balance not only within ourselves, but our surroundings, to reach our ultimate potential. This includes keeping our emotions in check. We are not emotional creatures by accident. Over thousands of years of existence, our bodies have had plenty of time to develop triggers to influence us into making certain decisions to ensure our survival as a species.

Fear, doubt, nervousness... Even positive emotions like love and trust, are all essential to our survival. If we didn't experience fear, we'd walk right into potentially deadly events because nothing inside of us would warn us of the consequences. And without love and trust, we might never get close enough to each other to procreate and produce future generations.

Similar to fear is the emotion of "Worry". And in my pesonal experiences, it sits at the top of the list of emotions we tend to let run rampant in our lives. Worry, like fear, is a valuable tool in feeling out the worthiness of partaking in or avoiding certain situations.

The downside with worry is that if it is allowed to have free reign, coursing through our veins unchecked, it tends to cloud our thought process and forces us to make less than optimal decisions. It is very important that we be prepared for what life throws at us, and over-worrying makes this extremely difficult.

As I've mentioned on this site before, I have an unbelievable relationship with my mother. She's been there for me my entire life in every way a parent possibly could be. On top of that, we tend to have a natural, unspoken agreement to meet in the middle on subjects we aren't in total agreement on to keep things as smooth as possible. The only times we do argue, however, seems to stem from one major difference in our personalities:

I'm laid back & she's a worrier.

Don't let me confuse you. The title of this post is "Worrying VS Being Prepared", but in no way am I callilng myself the "prepared one" against my mother's worrying. And let me be very clear that I'm clearly stating a difference in personalities, not calling myself right and her wrong. Things aren't always as black and white as "right and wrong".

Our minds just tend to react to situations very differently. She sees worrying as keeping on top of things, I see it as unneccesary distraction to the real task at hand.

And while I'm sure her worrying is due in large part to a maternal instinct that nature forbids me to fully understand, I still find myself hard pressed to agree with it as the best possible solution.

You see, in every situation there are the "what if's". And it's usually in your best interest to understand & appreciate them. Being prepared involves realizing those risks, neutralizing the possibility of them, and looking for the best way to avoid them. Over-Worrying focuses on the what if's, taking control of your thought process and in some cases enhancing their likeliness. You cannot find the solution if you're completely focused on the problem.

Forming a habit of worrying not only creates problems with your current situation but encourages subconscious triggers of self doubt and inability when situations of similar or greater difficulty arise.

So, ma, and you, reader.. NEVER go against your natural instincts. Just make sure they're not going against you.