Too Much Thinking
Every day life should be simple, huh?
We get up, we go to work somewhere, we come home, eat drink, laugh, love.
Yet there's so much stress out there, right?
A good buddy of mine, years ago, told me that worrying was a lot like sitting in a rocking chair and rocking back and forth.
"Nothing gets done," he said. "But at least you're passing time."
And we are all guilty of over-thinking things a lot. I know some people who imagine scenario after scenario and worry, worry, worry all the damn time.
Namely, my wife...and my mother-in-law.
Now Kathy does a great job of keeping tabs on the boys, but when they are out of the house she is an epic worrier. She has been known to send tens or hundreds of texts to a child that is out there for a while.
Her two biggest, well-known worry episodes?
1). She once called the school to see if Jake made it to school because when he got on the bus she noticed that it was a different bus driver.
She was afraid that the bus had been hijacked and that the guy made all the stops and picked up all the kids in an effort to kidnap everyone. I'm a little surprised that they didn't call the police on her.
2). Matt once left the house with the instruction to text home on an hourly basis. He jumped into a swimming pool and forgot all about his phone.
My wife not only called his phone she called the phones of all his friends, including one who was not supposed to be at the party. They ended up clearing the entire party. Matt was a tad perturbed.
Yet my beautiful wife is about a three when compared to my mother-in-law and her capacity to worry.
A few months ago I stopped home to write up a couple of reports before I had to run off to Niagara Falls to attend a job meeting.
It was raining.
"You shouldn't go," my mother-in-law said. "The rain makes those bridges pretty slick. Maybe you should call to cancel."
I was successful in my trip to and from the meeting, and you know what?
My dear mother-in-law checked in to see that it all worked out okay.
But her fear of what might happen to me is really dwarfed by how much she worries about my wife and kids.
"I was out the other night and my phone rang," Jake said. "It was grandma wondering if I needed a ride home. She was really worried that I would have to walk."
And through the years I always thought that worrying so much was just plain silly. Yet one day my nephew Rocco got on a bike and headed off down the road. He was wearing a helmet and he had full control of the bike...
...but I was so worried for his safety.
"Slow down!" I called out.
Rocco just laughed.
Love makes you worry, right?
But too much thinking just wears you out. I once asked my wife about it.
"It's exhausting!" she said.
But hey, you never know when someone is going to hijack a bus.
We get up, we go to work somewhere, we come home, eat drink, laugh, love.
Yet there's so much stress out there, right?
A good buddy of mine, years ago, told me that worrying was a lot like sitting in a rocking chair and rocking back and forth.
"Nothing gets done," he said. "But at least you're passing time."
And we are all guilty of over-thinking things a lot. I know some people who imagine scenario after scenario and worry, worry, worry all the damn time.
Namely, my wife...and my mother-in-law.
Now Kathy does a great job of keeping tabs on the boys, but when they are out of the house she is an epic worrier. She has been known to send tens or hundreds of texts to a child that is out there for a while.
Her two biggest, well-known worry episodes?
1). She once called the school to see if Jake made it to school because when he got on the bus she noticed that it was a different bus driver.
She was afraid that the bus had been hijacked and that the guy made all the stops and picked up all the kids in an effort to kidnap everyone. I'm a little surprised that they didn't call the police on her.
2). Matt once left the house with the instruction to text home on an hourly basis. He jumped into a swimming pool and forgot all about his phone.
My wife not only called his phone she called the phones of all his friends, including one who was not supposed to be at the party. They ended up clearing the entire party. Matt was a tad perturbed.
Yet my beautiful wife is about a three when compared to my mother-in-law and her capacity to worry.
A few months ago I stopped home to write up a couple of reports before I had to run off to Niagara Falls to attend a job meeting.
It was raining.
"You shouldn't go," my mother-in-law said. "The rain makes those bridges pretty slick. Maybe you should call to cancel."
I was successful in my trip to and from the meeting, and you know what?
My dear mother-in-law checked in to see that it all worked out okay.
But her fear of what might happen to me is really dwarfed by how much she worries about my wife and kids.
"I was out the other night and my phone rang," Jake said. "It was grandma wondering if I needed a ride home. She was really worried that I would have to walk."
And through the years I always thought that worrying so much was just plain silly. Yet one day my nephew Rocco got on a bike and headed off down the road. He was wearing a helmet and he had full control of the bike...
...but I was so worried for his safety.
"Slow down!" I called out.
Rocco just laughed.
Love makes you worry, right?
But too much thinking just wears you out. I once asked my wife about it.
"It's exhausting!" she said.
But hey, you never know when someone is going to hijack a bus.
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