My New Challenge Part 2

I have decided that this book is going to help me SO MUCH because I have only been through 2.5 chapters and I already feel a million times better.

Now, to clarify some things, the root of all my stress and worry comes from work. I work at JoAnn Fabric and Crafts here in Idaho Falls as the assistant manager (or merchandising team leader for those of you who know the titles at JoAnn's). Now, to most of you that probably doesn't sound very stressful by any means. It's a fabric store for crying out loud. But remember that I make things to be more complicated than they need to be. And it is a pretty intense job being in management anyway: making sure everything runs smoothly, fixing customer problems, resolving issues between employees, training, etc, etc. It's hard some days to really like my job and with being SO bogged down with worry and stress lately, those days come few and far between. I come home everyday from work and, out of habit, I continue to think about what happened at work, what I could have done to make the day better, what things I did/didn't do that day and what else I have to get done at certain times. That's how I go to bed too and why it's hard for me to get to sleep quickly. Whew! It gets pretty exhausting.

So in the latest chapters of the book that I have been reading, Dale Carnegie talks about a magic formula for solving worry situations. Here it is:

1. Ask yourself: "What is the worst that can possibly happen?"

2. Be prepared to accept it if you have to.

3. Then calmly proceed to improve on the worst.

Pretty self explanatory. But I think in my case, I get too overwhelmed with how to fix it RIGHT NOW instead of being calm and collected and following these steps in each situation. Somehow, my brain decided it's easier to deal with worry at maximum capacity then trying to solve it step by step. Ugh.

Then he talks about the effects worry has on the body. Did you know it can cause everything from tooth decay to diabetes? Not to mention ulcers and indigestion.

"Those who keep the peace of their inner selves in the midst of the tumult of the modern city are immune from nervous diseases." Dr. Alexis Carrel. Amen to that.

I had to close the store last night, which is normal and I don't mind doing it, but I also had to set a new ad and that potentially could have been pretty stressful. I won't bore you with the details but it's time consuming and not my favorite thing to do. I could have freaked out about only having an hour to set the entire store with new sale signs, but I chose not to. I knew that I would do my absolute best to get the job done, but then I thought to myself, "What's the worst that could happen?" Maybe I wouldn't get all my signs up, or I would go over my 40 hours for the week and get in lots of trouble...in any case, I knew I wouldn't lose my job or anything drastic like that. So I did the best I could. I stopped worrying that I wouldn't get anything done. Turns out I didn't have to worry about anything because we finished just in time. All of my signs got put up and everything was ok. And I didn't go over 40 hours.

I think the less time we spend worrying, the more time we have to get things done! Life is too short to be worried all the time and not any fun at all. I am determined to make that thinking process a habit so that I can be worry free!

I love that feeling :)