Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

My mother used to say, "Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill." I didn't understand, as a child, what that meant, because everything seemed big and important in my young, inexperienced life.

Even though my mother tried, I didn't learn most of life's lessons from her, but I do recall much of her wise advice. "Mountains and mole hills" is one adage I do remember, since I've climbed many of those "mountains" to get to where I am today.

I've learned that most of life's dilemmas are small and are soon dismissed and forgotten. Take it from this "young, old lady" that 99.9% of everything I've ever worried about did not happen; 99.9% of my disappointments were due to expectations that couldn't be met by myself or someone else. And 99.9% of my happiness depended solely upon my own choices.

Sure, life can and will throw us curve balls which are a normal part of the human experience, but we usually make life far more difficult than it should be. We can't control some things in our lives, but we can control our attitude and expectations.

When we feel that life or someone is disappointing us, it's best to examine whether we really want to climb a "mountain" or step graciously and easily over "a mole hill."

Copyright 2008 By-Barbara J. Kirby Davis