I stood in the middle of a gym filled with people trying my best not to burst into tears in front of all of them. My volleyball team had just lost a game to a very good team, but that wasn’t the thing that had me so upset.
I felt I had done an amazing job defending our side of the court. I had done my very best against this amazingly strong team and I was proud of the work I had done. So, I went into our post-game team huddle with a triumphant smile on my face and a determination to help my teammates feel as accomplished as I did.
Instead of the pep talk to try harder next time I expected from my coaches, I got a soul crushing speech about how far we had fallen. They told me not to smile or celebrate my hard work. They told me to stop encouraging my team on our failure and to top it all off they said that we played worse than our very first game. Which was not true.
I left that game in complete anguish and depression. I didn’t want to play volleyball anymore and I was terrified to see my coaches again. Our next game was only a few days away and I was so scared to play in that game that I barely slept or ate. I even had dreams about losing the game and failing again.
The best way I have found to counter worrying is to just not think about whatever is worrying me. Thinking about it nonstop is not going to make it go away, and you’re not going to get a magical answer to your problem.
Instead, just trust God that things are all going to work out fine. We’ve got a God who is always looking out for us. Trust can be hard, but once you learn how to do it, you’ll be a lot happier. We all need to worry less and trust more.
Don’t be so anxious about your future that you worry away your present.