Notes from Steve

Personally, I think I’m thinking too much.  I have a lot of things on my plate. Instead of lining them up and applying the correct amount of anxiety and stress to each one - I’m clumping them all together and basically freaking out.  A friend asked how planning was going for RAGBRAI, and I said I can’t allow myself to think about it until June 22 or else I’ll break out in tears lying in a fetal position on the floor.

This isn’t healthy, and I know this.  I know this very well.  I’ve been reading a lot of stuff lately on how to enrich your life, how to live longer, how to add life to your remaining years … and none of them say to stop thinking so much.  They talk about eating a plant-based diet and yoga and tracking everything possible -- which is my collective definition of a “buzzkill”.  

I have a sign in my office someone gave me.  It says, “Yes.  Doing your job is part of your job.”  My “life,” per my personal job description, is to do as much as possible in the best way possible.  (It’s tattooed on my wrist - “Do Good. Ride Hard. Live Well.”)  Riding hard means doing a lot.  And living well is living without too much stress.  How do I do both?*

Let go and let God.  Do my best and hope for the best.  At the end of my life, when I’m standing at the pearly gates - I highly doubt St. Peter will scold me for not worrying enough about the details.**

*Doing good to me is volunteering, giving to charity, and tipping well.  I got that covered.
**I fully expect, though, that he’ll produce a basket of all the things that I lost in life.  There will most definitely be a lot of socks.