Excerpt: 'Don't Sweat The Small Stuff'
Sept. 4 -- Richard Carlson, author of several Don't Sweat the Small Stuff books, is back. His latest installment, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Men: Simple Ways to Minimize Stress in a Competitive World, offers 100 brief chapters of advice geared for the male psyche. He advises men to avoid letting their competitive natures rule their lives and to let go of life's small stresses. Read an excerpt here.
Chapter 1: Have An Affair
I thought the title of this strategy would grab your attention and would be a great place to begin this book!
Okay, not that kind of affair!
The kind of affair I'm talking about is a love affair with life. If there's one thing I've noticed that seems to be lacking in many men, it's a passion for life. It seems that many of us have lost that sense of wonder and awe for the incredible gift of life itself. We've become lost in the multitude of responsibilities, ambitions, drive, and commitments. We've become very serious and heavyhearted. Many of us have lost our sense of humor and our perspective. We've lost our compassion, as well. Instead of marveling at it all, we take life for granted. We become stuck in the mundane and succumb to boredom. It's as if we're doing nothing more than putting in time and going through the motions.
Life is slowly passing us by. Without a genuine sense of enthusiasm, a zest for life and a lighthearted spirit, we take our problems and obstacles too seriously. We become uptight and a drag to be around. More than anything else, we start sweating the small stuff. Life starts to bother us instead of amusing us. People are seen as burdens instead of as gifts. Challenges are dreaded instead of seen as opportunities.
The solution to all of this is to have an affair with life. The idea is to reignite your passion for living, and to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Remind yourself how precious and how short this adventure really is. I read a great book called A Parenthesis in Eternity. What a great way to think about the duration of your life — as a blip on a passing screen. We're here for a moment in time — and then we're gone. Why waste one second on self-pity, frustration, irritation, and all the rest? Our lives are so much more important than that.
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