Worries... According to Maz

So let me tell you a story... Once upon a time there was a girl. One day she realized she was going to college. She had known about this for quite some time (basically her whole life) but she didn't really think about it until one summer day when she had nothing better to think about. And she got really worried and scared. (which doesn't happen very much for this girl because she's pretty much a gung ho person). And for some reason this girl got really freaked out about who her roommate was going to be. She started checking everyday to see when she would get her rooming assignment and would race outside everyday to wait for the mail to see if she got anything from the college. When she did get something, and it wasn't about her future suitemate, she would get really angry (which also doesn't happen very much because she's pretty much a very chill person) and would go on long rants about the pointlessness of the college and the stupid things they were sending her. When the day finally came to receive the name of her roommate, the roommate had not posted her contact number! The girl was furious and told pretty much everyone she talked to about how furious she was. (and let me tell you, she was very furious) She did eventually get her roommate's name and number (how this happened is another story) but she was still worried. Eventually, the girl could not figure out a way to handle her worries any longer, (yes, this does seem like it leads up to something horrible but I promise it doesn't) that she decided the best thing to do was curl up in a ball on her bed. Which she did. But luckily for the girl, instead of crying (which most girls would do) she started thinking. And the main question she asked herself was this: Why am I curled up in a ball right now? And because this girl was very bright and intelligent (not to mention ridiculously good-looking) she figured out some of her problems and feels much better now... The End   

Yes, this girl was indeed me. And yes, I did curl up in a ball on a bed. I have never done anything like that before in my life. I usually like to meet my problems head on, but in this situation I hid instead because I had no other idea about how to handle my worries and anxieties and fears. But as I was hiding from my future, my very analytical mind woke up and I thought some deep thoughts about worries, why we worry and basically why I was curled up in a ball. Here are some of them:

1. When we can't control the situation, it controls us. As in the above story, when I was unable to control my roommate situation, I became worried, stressed, scared and angry. Emotions I do not exhibit on a normal day. I thought about the different times in my life when I was in deeply troubled situations and I realized this happened to me every time. I did things that were not really me. Worry causes me, well, to worry. It brings out the worst in me. That's not to say I break under stress, because I really don't think I do. But when I am in a helpless situation, when I can not manipulate any of the variables to give myself some sort of leg-up or control, I start to go a little crazy. 

2. We can't change anything by worrying. This is something I've always thought about and usually tell myself when I start to go crazy. But in this case I didn't really think about it until I was in my little ball. Worrying does not make a situation better, does not change it, and does not make it come any faster or slower. All it does is wear us out. I will be going to college, I will be living on my own, I will be sharing a room with a complete stranger and there's nothing I can do to change that. Actually, I chose that! So worrying basically does nothing for me. It'll happen, regardless if I worry about it or not.

3. I think the reason we do worry is to try to have some kind of say over our situation. As I said before, I worry a lot when I can't control things. In school, I never really stressed over tests and exams because instead of stressing I would just study a lot. In athletics, I would never really get stressed out because I would go to practice everyday and work my butt off until I was too exhausted to even care. It was only when situations came up that were out of my control, that I could not change with my hard work or preparation (or brilliance =P) that I would stress out. Because that's something I could control. 

4. Man's way sucks and God's way doesn't. The thing I really love about the Bible is it's very logical. All of the things in it aren't necessarily deep and spiritual, there's a lot of things that are pretty much about how to live healthier and easier. So, regardless of any or all religious beliefs, what the Bible says about worry is pretty much super smart. (i am really glad i was raised in a christian household because i had a bunch of random verses and phrases about worry in my head already, i didn't need to get up and get my bible and i wasn't about to as i was sitting there in my ball of worry) The Bible says "Which of you by worrying can add one minute to your life?" (Matt. 6:27) It's true. Worrying, as I said before, does nothing. It also says in Proverbs "Worry weighs a person down." Worrying is stupid and God tells us over and over again not to do it. Yet we still do. But God's way is way better. He says "Hey, I know life is hard and sucks a lot of the time, but instead of worrying trust in Me." So here are my two options: A)Trust in myself, a mere human with no extraordinary talents at all B)Trust in the guy who created the entire world, who runs everything all the time and loves us unconditionally. Hmm, that's a hard one... And yet, most of the time we chose option A. God doesn't want us to screw up and He especially doesn't want us to be stressed out all the time. His way really truly is way better than our way. And the best part is, He can actually do something about it. He is, actually, the one in charge. I think we forget that a lot of the time and try to take matters into our own hands. Stupid, stupid humans... 

So, after I thought about all these things, and had a nice little chat with the Lord where I pretty much laid all my worries out, I feel better. There's nothing more I can do to prepare for my situation. So I'm going to chill out, enjoy the rest of my very uneventful summer and just see where my life takes me. 

"in every life we have some trouble, 

when you worry you make it double 

don't worry, be happy"