“Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s all just small stuff.”
Actually, no. It’s not. It’s not all “just small stuff,” and to say that is sort of like saying to someone, “your feelings don’t count.” They DO count, and you’re totally allowed to have them.
In the grand scheme of things (we’re talking Universe, here), we probably can agree that it’s all small stuff. We’re small stuff. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important, and that doesn’t mean that it’s not huge to you. Furthermore, we don’t live in the Universe, we live here. Now. And these small things matter. Why? Well, the simple truth is:
If you’re sweating about it, it’s important to you. And that means it’s important enough to take a look at and not brush it aside as “small.”
So, here’s the good news – once we acknowledge the importance of something in our life, actually look at it and listen to what our emotions are telling us (they’re the warning signs on the path of life, by the way), chances are that the thing making us sweat will actually shrink a little. Just validating it as your truth gives it permission to go on its merry way. How awesome is that?
Now, is this always the case? No, but it happens more than you might realize. Acknowledging these little, but important, things opens the door to exploring them further, which gives you the power and opportunity to shift them into something that no longer causes you to sweat. It might still be there, but you may no longer be sweating over it.
So….small stuff? Big stuff? Pfffftt. It doesn’t matter what size it is, it’s all “stuff.” (Besides, “size” is completely subjective. What’s big to you might be miniscule to someone else, and vice versa.)
What matters is that we begin to understand that it’s the “stuff” that provides us with the greatest opportunities to grow, learn and create the life we truly want to live: the authentic life.
Embrace your “stuff.” Listen to it. Ask it questions. Sit with it and share some space with it. Invite it for a coffee or walk in the park, and find out what it wants so desperately to tell you, and then breathe. You might find that it wasn’t so small to begin with – that it was more like an iceberg: tiny on top, with a whole lot going on underneath. Only then can you truly decide whether or not to sweat about it. And…only then do you give it a chance to float away.