Wednesday; June 18

Growing up as a sports fan, I have to admit that there were times when I had problems separating my teams’ efforts with my attitude.  Whether it was the Cowboys and the Dolphins in the ‘70s, the Broncos in the 2000’s or even the modern Texas Rangers, there are times when I put too much of the “fan” in fanatic.  The problem with this isn’t necessarily the passion, it is investing too much of myself in something over which I have no control.  They won’t let me play or make player moves, so really other than cheering louder, I can’t determine the outcomes of their games.

As I pondered about this, I got to thinking about other areas where it is too easy to invest too much of ourselves in things over which we have little control.  Take politics, for instance.  Yes, we can vote for our people, but we don’t really have an impact on national or international policy.  What about the economy?  We can do some saving, spending and investing; but many of the economic policies are beyond our control.  So, why do we invest so much of our emotional equilibrium in what happens?  Sure, some things do impact our quality of life, but often even those are beyond our control.

I won’t pretend to tell you not to care, but I will remind us that there are times we just need to take a deep breath and regroup.  Let’s control what we can – and often, the only thing we can control is our attitudes.

Think About It!

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