Gotta Love July
Several more days and it will be July. The peak of summer used to frustrate me. Hard to get much work when everyone is on vacation, or at the beach, or disappearing for a week around the Fourth of July.
No longer. I have learned to love the coming month, if for no other reason than a slower pace of life—even when things are busy. Last July happened to be my best income-generating month of 2014, which I forgot until I looked back at last year’s records.
This year could match that peak. Or, if not, prove to be as hectic as last July. Despite that, the knowledge that so many people are off, coupled with a lower volume of e-mail, seems to have a calming effect.
Break Time
This July will include time off for the Fourth of July, a weekend that brings a trio of birthday parties in our ever-expanding extended family (the latest addition turns 1 on July 4). Then comes a visit to my brother’s and a weekend camping trip with family members after that.
Before and after the breaks, my calendar looks crammed. When a writer I met on my recent trip to Boston asked if I could review some chapters from his book, I told him as long as he didn’t mind waiting until August.
Yet, I won’t get bothered by this busy schedule, if for no other reason than decades at this have taught me to stop stressing out over deadlines. They will get done—they always do.
And if there’s a scramble here and there, it’s nothing to get into a frenzy over. I still chuckle at the comment I read one time from a humorist who told of how to handle pressure: ask yourself, 100 years from now, will this really matter?
What, Me Worry?
In a day and time when terrorists threaten our nation’s existence, racial tensions are boiling over, and people seem unable to control explosive emotions, some may accuse me of a Pollyanna-ish outlook.
Yes, I get it: There is trouble in the world. Yes, I am concerned about the condition of our nation and the future. But I have also discovered by engaging in a slew of fretting over a multitude of issues the past three decades: worrying is an utter waste of time. It won’t change a thing. It will only make you more nervous and agitated about whatever it is you’re upset over.
Jesus put it this way: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34, NIV).
Truer words were never spoken. Now, go out and enjoy July.
