Simplifying My Life
October 7, 2010 at 4:47 am (Uncategorized)
Wow. I survived the last two weeks. After staying home all weekend and experiencing the spiritual feast of the (LDS) General Conference, I actually woke up happy! I was excited to go to school! It’s been great.
I went to Karate practice on Monday and it was intense. Lots of drills, lots of sweat, and we finished up with sparring sessions. I can usually get through all the other stuff without falling over, but the intense effort required for sparring leaves me huffing and puffing like a blowfish. For a person who only exercises about twice a week, sparring is HARD. And lucky me, I got to do four sessions in a row and the last session was with my instructor. Even before we started I knew I was in trouble. I realized I had to conserve my strength. So instead of tensing up and worrying about every little punch and kick, I made a conscious decision to stay relaxed so I could save enough energy for the last sparring session.
Surprisingly, I made it. I didn’t fall over and I wasn’t huffing and puffing like a blowfish. I even landed a sweet punch on my instructor’s face (he was ecstatic). Afterwards, I realized that was what Elder Uchtdorf was talking about in General Conference on Saturday. When you hit turbulence in your life, don’t tense up and stress out, relax. Take it slow, conserve your energy and get through it one step at a time. It makes so much sense—don’t worry, don’t freak out, and you’ll make it through. I like that a lot better than trying to increase my pace, to add more items to my to-do list and pile more responsibilities on top of myself.
For me it also means choosing not to worry about all the little incidents in my life. If my first class went badly—it’s okay. I’ll fix it before the next class. If I didn’t finish all the grading in one day, it’s okay, I can work on it tomorrow. As long as I am doing what I am supposed to (fulfilling my duties, taking care of my family, and serving God) I don’t need to waste energy worrying about everything. As long as I am sincerely and actively following God, it will be OKAY.
Life feels a lot better when I think about it in that way.
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