Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Put the cup down

I read something on a social media site recently that really resonated with me.  It was some story about some psychologist who does or doesn't exist who did or didn't present at some conference/workshop/etc.

The story is basically as follows:
Psychologist holds up a cup of water, and asks a question of the audience....
How much does the water weigh?  People answer 8oz, 20oz, etc.
Psychologist says it really doesn't matter, what matters is how long you have to hold it up.

An hour, maybe a little tired.
Several hours, numb and achy.
A day, basically paralyzed.

Moral of the story?  Worry/guilt/stress is like the glass full of water.  Worry/obsess over guilt/stress out for a couple minutes a day, your fine.  An hour or two starting to get achy/numb, all day, all but paralyzed.

The psychologists advice...put the cup down as early in the day as you can.

Today I tried to put the cup down, let go of the worry, stress, fear of inadequacy and just live.  I wasn't entirely successful, but I do feel better.  My goal is to not carry the cup until night time tomorrow, but to instead put it down early in the morning, and try to live the rest of the day as best as I can.

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