“Don’t sweat the small stuff”. How many times have you personally heard that line or used it on someone aside from reading/hearing it off the title of a famous book by Richard Carlson? Well me, I grew up with that line and long before the book came into publication too. Why and how, you ask? Well because it’s a simple English line that in all literal terms means “Stop being petty” and it’s my father’s favourite (if not only) line of reply to me when I cite favourtism in his and mom’s acts of ‘devotion’ towards my siblings or simply when my siblings were working hard to ‘disable’ my life. Ah yes, those were the days… sibling squabbles and ribbons in our hair-I do not miss them.
Yet even so, they have never really gone away. I guess I’ve just learned to “not sweat the small stuff” or at least not in front of my family. Sweating it to my husband is just fine…bless him.
Anyway back to why we’re here today. Actually I have always disagreed with the philosophy of not sweating the small stuff because those are the things in life that really matter. Very small step counts and every small mistake/error a child make left uncorrected leads to a larger problem at later life. Of course when Richard Carlson wrote about it he meant something else- don’t stress over things that don’t have substance and that’s all true but you’ve got to learn to recognize what’s got substance and what hasn’t.
Here are 2 small things you should fret about:
1. Correct tire pressure.
Not only does it keep you safe, and your car in condition, it also reduces your petrol mileage and increase the carbon dioxide emissions from your car.
2. Internet surfing as a hobby
In this age, the surfing the internet is a hobby. When we’re bored, we surf senselessly looking for some form of inspiration or entertainment. You and I both know how addictive surfing can be but did you realize that about 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide is created each time you hit “search”? Sure 0.2 grams is like a sneeze but imagine how many people around the world click search every second? How did you think the internet was powered?
So yeah, sometimes you do need to sweat the small stuff….
