Don't Focus on the Small Stuff

What bugs you? Think about the small stuff that just irritates you for some reason. Are you someone who easily gets angered or someone who rarely gets angry? How do you react when someone cuts you off on the freeway? How about when you’re stuck in heavy traffic or stuck on hold when calling into customer service? How about standing in line at the bank or grocery store? nnA lot of things in life can irritate and annoy us or even make us outright furious, but if you think about it, most of the things people get all worked up about are the small stuff. When we let the small stuff easily effect us, we’re often side tracked and are put in a disempowering state of mind. You could be happily working on a goal and suddenly have something come by and knock you out of your rhythm. I’ll be discussing how you can prevent the small stuff from controlling how you feel.nnA large part of how we feel is based on what we focus on. Let’s look at some of the examples mentioned earlier. If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic and observe other drivers, you’ll notice that there are lots of different reactions people have. Some look stressed out, some look frustrated, some look bored, while some are just enjoying the moment. nnWhat makes the difference? Focus. What you focus on will determine how you feel. If you want to change how you feel, then simply change your focus. Now why is it important to do this? Why can't we just be mad at things like this?nnWell, for one thing, you'll probably live longer if you're less angry and stressed out all the time. The other reason is because if you think about it, most of the things that we get temporarily bent out of shape over are things and situations that won't even matter to us a week or a month from now. nnWhenever something happens that gets me mad, I always think to myself, "Will this even matter a week from today? Will I even care about this issue?" Almost always, my answer is, "No." Once I have decided that the matter is unimportant, the angry feelings go away. nnWhen someone cuts you off on the freeway for example, you can get mad, honk the horn, and curse them out, or you can realize that you're lucky that they didn't hit you and just let it go. Think about all the times people have cut you off in the past. Really, think about it. How do you feel about those times when some jerk had the nerve to cut you off? Most likely, since that incident already passed, you could care less about it right now.nnRealize that life is way too short to be getting all crazy over the smallest things, and believe me, most of the things people get upset over are small stuff. People always say, "we're going to think back on this years from now and just laugh." Well, why wait? Who said you'd even be alive years from now. Take every chance you get and just laugh. Learn to let go of the small stuff and you'll live a happier life, guaranteed.n