SMACK.
I hit the ground like a pancake.
An older lady walking by came and checked on me. “You took quite a spill!” she said.
“I’m okay,” I replied, feeling a little vindicated that even she could tell it was a hard fall.
I was on my morning run, doing my usual loop. Whenever I come to this one particular curb, I always see myself falling.
But…
I didn’t fall on that curb, I fell right after it. On plain, flat ground.
That morning, I had put on a new pair of shoes that were a smidge too big. You know how your mom always made you press in the toe when you tried on a new pair of shoes at the store? Well, I didn’t do that.
So I fell.
Besides being a literal incarnation of the “you fall and get back up” metaphor, it showed me the problem with worrying.
I was worried about the wrong thing all along.
While I was stressing about the curb, that’s not what tripped me up (so to speak).
We get good at visualizing worst-case scenarios and predicting terrible outcomes.
Sure, bad things will happen.
But your worries won’t prevent your struggles or mishaps.
And if you’re not going to worry about the right thing anyhow, why try?
To being better without being a worrywart,
Elizabeth