Don't be Anxious: Something Worth Thinking About.

Today I lost a client. I felt lousy. Leading to this lousiness is a path littered with anxieties and worries. After thinking through all this, I would like to start by this quote:

“No person can be confronted with a difficulty which he has not the strength to meet and subdue... Every difficulty can be overcome if rightly dealt with; anxiety is, therefore, unnecessary. The task which cannot be overcome ceases to be a difficulty and becomes an impossibility…and there is only one way of dealing with an impossibility - namely to submit to it.” - Byways of Blessedness

Most people who read this quote probably think that I write them for others. The truth is, I write them for me. I need them as much or more than the folks I write for.

Yes, I was confronted with a difficulty that I allowed myself to be filled with a great deal of anxiety. It’s not a new difficulty or even a totally unexpected one. But I was faced with a decision that will have long-term ramifications. One of those kind of decisions that we’d rather not make - one of those decisions that makes you want to stay at home and not go out in the morning, not even pick up calls.

James Allen’s words are so incredibly penetrating on this subject because he’s basically saying that there’s no problem that we should be anxious about. We can either solve it or it’s impossible to solve. His words kind of reminds you of the Serenity Prayer, doesn’t it? “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and the Wisdom to know the difference.”

Someone once said that “If money can fix it, it’s not a problem.” Problem is, I don’t have the money to fix it, so I’ve got a problem. Right? Wrong thinking. Because you should focus on getting the money to fix the problem, and not focusing on the "I don't have" mentality. Truth is, you’re only one idea away from obtaining whatever amount of money you might need. As Bob Proctor says, “you’re either living in the problem or you’re living in the solution.” So start living in the solution.

There’s also another great reason not to be anxious about the difficulty you’re facing today - it contains a lesson. And once you master it, you will be much more stronger and wiser. Emmet Fox wrote, “It is the Law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are, must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson.”

Yes, today I lose a client...but I am not about to lose the lesson. And that’s worth thinking about.