Don't worry, be happy

"The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future"

-Audrey Hepburn

This is one of my favorite quotes because I can deeply relate to it. Recently I have realized that life has been somewhat of a roller coaster. I'm sure many will agree with me when I say that just as great as one day can be, the next day can be a complete 360. When life is good, everything is great! But what do we consider good? Maybe you got out of a speeding ticket, had a romantic day with your crush or you were able to relax after a long week. Whatever your reason is, it doesn't seem to matter because everything is good. But what about those not so good days? Sometimes it's hard to even realize why one day has drastically changed the perfect pattern you had. We may blame it on a bad grade we recieved, being late or on that boy who never called. Whatever we blame it on, I've realized that they all have one thing in common, worrying.

The definition of worry:  a state of anxiety and uncertainty over actual or potential problems.

In my life I've noticed that my dimmer days have been shadowed by worrying. It's something that we all do. We worry about whether we will have a job, how to pay the bills, how we look, what to have for lunch, if our relationships will withstand the test of time and much more. But if you look back at this list, you will notice that many of those things have to do with the future.

We tend to worry about the future because we are uncertain about it. We don't know what to expect, and since our lives have always revolved around planning, we end up driving ourselves crazy. 

Now it's easy to say don't worry, be happy. But I've recognized that when I stop worrying, everything is back to being great! It doesn't take a single incident to make your day or your life great because life is good on it's own, but we tend to forget that when we start worrying about the little things or the big things that haven't even occurred yet. So how can we break the natural tendency we have to worry? 

I think its best to reverse the root of the problem. When you worry your mind is filled with racing thoughts. So clear your mind whether it is through exercise, meditation, or writing. I myself have a little combination. When my mind is racing to the point where I can't even distinguish my thoughts, I go running. After I have released that anxiety, I write my problems. Of course, the cure to worrying will be different for every one, but I've found that writing my problems down puts them on a piece of paper and out of my mind. 

It's so much more fun to enjoy the good things in life and live day by day in the present. Especially since when we look back into the past we realize that even when we thought it wouldn't get better, it did and life was good once again. When we worry about the things that have not arrived yet it causes us to forget about the present good. So my word of advice to myself and to you is: DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY. It may seem too simple to be possible, but give it a try and see how you feel!