Are You Careful What You Care About?

I told my husband that my appointment was on Wednesday. Later, I realized he thought it was on Thursday. He said, “You told me it was Thursday.” I thought he heard me wrong. He thought I said it wrong. I wanted to argue, but did it matter?

The committee wanted to add more activities to raise money so we could have more events. I wanted to keep things simple and easy; after all, we were volunteers and didn’t have the extra time. But the leader was determined and pushed their recommendation through. I could resist and feel frustrated, or I could accept it. How much did it matter?

The email asked me if I was available on October 14th. They were a large organization and interested in hiring me to train their people on improving their positivity skills. It was a fantastic opportunity! I was excited until I saw my calendar. I had already committed to speak at an association conference that day. Was I going to feel bitter or regretful?

Whether it’s things at work or things at home, are you careful what you care about? Are you careful what you spend your time, energy, passion, and emotions on? Or, like so many of us, do you get tangled up in the weeds of life instead of focusing on what really matters?

For example, do you care too much about –

• The little things?
• Who’s right?
• Things you have no control over?
• Other people’s business?
• What other people have/do?

A helpful way to measure how important something is, is to ask yourself if it will matter in a year. If the answer is no, take a breath (or several), and decide that everything is OK. You might want to have a conversation with yourself about what really matters and what doesn’t.