Many of us are worried about different issues and matters in our lives. We are anxious and afraid of what could be or not be that would hurt us, displease us, displace us or bring us down.
At varying degrees we are all worried, some worries are severe, some are mild but as humans, worry is part of our everyday lives.
Worry is natural considering the number of things we are tied to and involved with yet have no control over.
You live in a nation and an environment you can’t totally control. You live with people you can’t absolutely control, you work with people you can’t easily control; in fact you’re married to someone you can’t adequately control and perhaps have children too you can’t seemingly control. Most of us just wish and want to believe we can control people and things we’re responsible for, truth is, it’s a wish, all humans have the power to yield or rebel, they can decide to be for you or against you, they can choose to be loyal or disloyal, they can choose to stay or even walk away. Our strong wishes and hope is for everyone important to us to still keep thinking and acting in line with our desires.
As humans, we are daily exposed to threats from the world’s system and even Mother Nature. We could get fired from our jobs, the company could go down, our own businesses could go down, accidents, vile attacks betrayal, disfavor, broken marriages, remaining single, infidelity, infertility, major financial loss, terminal illness and even death scare most of us daily. What we mostly do is just push all these aside from the top of our minds and live a life of hope that things will work out in our favour eventually.
Worry and anxiety are natural human emotions, but the excess of these can be quite harmful and destructive. Many of us are facing severe health challenges today based on worry, fear and anxiety. Many of us are not happy, excited, or passionate about life, we are not enjoying our lives based on fear and anxiety.
We are terrified by unexpected eventualities, we see the threats, we see the coming crisis; we perceive something may not go well, however, and unfortunately, most of us hardly react, mitigate or contain negative possibilities or eventualities appropriately before they become full-blown. What some of us do is wait, remain still, refuse to react and simply wish or hope something or someone or even God will help avert the negative possibilities before they happen.
However, the longer we wait and realize external intervention or help isn’t coming, the more afraid and anxious we become until we eventually break down psychologically and physically.
Ladies and gentlemen, think with me this morning, what exactly would your finances look like in three years? Would your income have doubled? What would your responsibilities look like in another three years, would they have doubled? Would your bills have doubled? Then juxtapose these situations with how the economy could be in three years? Will the Naira have appreciated considerably? Will costs of goods and services decrease significantly? Will there be a significant increase in your salary? How bigger will your business be in 3 years? What financial health strategies are you working on? What financial growth are you looking at in three years? Are you doing anything about your financial wellbeing in the future? Are you deliberately controlling and driving up your cash inflow trend, or it’s totally out of your hands and control?
Are you pitching with luck, benevolence, human or divine favour or government performance? Will what your company sells or what you do still be valuable to consumers and customers in 3 years? Are there new winners threatening your market share?
Could you possibly be out of a job before 3 years? Could technology make your job description obsolete in 3 years? What are you doing today, about your tomorrow? Are you actively building your tomorrow or you’re wallowing in wishes, blame games, benevolence, religiosity, hope and gambles?
Are you stuck in a life or career routine that has no regard for a superior tomorrow? Are you well equipped today and varied to work in other industries, sectors and organizations if suddenly you lose your job in your sector? What are your actionable plans for a successful tomorrow?
Do you really love yourself and care enough for you to protect and preserve your happiness, welfare and wellbeing in future? Do you desire a perpetual upgrade in your life?
Dear friend, I want to encourage you this morning to move away from that zone of acute worries. You need to tame and mitigate excessive worrying, by taking action against possible, negative eventualities or outcomes in your life.
If you critically think about your life today, you may realize you’re building your life around hope and making plans based on wishful assumptions. Wishes, no matter how intense can’t change your realities. You must learn to accept life as it is not as you wish it to be. You must learn to accept people as they are, not as you wish them to be. You must learn to accept situations as they are not as you wish them to be.
We all pray and hope for a better Nigeria, for a healthier economy, for a superior political system and for real prosperity to cover the land, but whiles praying for all these, we must apply our minds, heart and muscles in dealing with how the nation is today. If you don’t, you could become a victim of the current, not too palatable system. To keep excessive worrying at bay, these are the things you must do:
- You must be objective. Stop wishing for what is not and stop holding others responsible for your situation either good or bad. Redirect your mental effort towards problem solving and creativity not blame games and intense unfruitful debates on who is to blame. To save others you must be safe first. Take responsibility for your life and your now, life is not a smooth cruise, it’s a battle, a challenge and a contest, you must fight to win, if you refuse to fight, you lose.
- You must take action. Many of us refuse to take necessary actions because we claim we don’t have the time. It’s not really the truth, if you really want something, you’ll create time for it. Determination fuels actions, if you’re determined, you’ll reorganize your life and your days to accommodate that which you need to do to move ahead in life. Reduce your sleep, reduce your leisure; reduce your friends, reduce your visits to social media platforms, organize your work better, you will find the time.
- Be disciplined. This is a decision to stick with what is right and productive even when what is wrong and retrogressive appears more appealing. Discipline is the ability to shun temporary pleasures and delay gratification. That thing you need to do today to become a winner tomorrow; stick with it.
- Yes, you may desire to take action but lack the know-how, Hence you need training, coaching and development programs. Read, study and attend relevant capacity development programs so as to be able to do effectively and excellently, what you need in your life tomorrow.
- Many of us give up too easily on what is even necessary. For life to deliver anything you want to you, you would be tested and trained through challenges to develop the capacity to obtain and retain. Many of us just want valuable things without earning. Dear friend, keep at that which you must do, earn it, and learn to retain it. Don’t keep giving up, it may cost you many years from now when it’s probably too late. Be persistent.
Dear friend, to drastically reduce your worries and anxieties, take action, do something, don’t just keep talking, lamenting, complaining, and blaming everything and everyone, yet do nothing. Your future is too precious to play games with, dear friend, activate a great future today.