So much of what we think matters really doesn’t.
I was re-watching a podcast last night in which the speakers were making jokes about a panda being sent to a very dreary zoo. At one point they mention lions and it reminded me of a story from my school days getting on for 30 years ago now!
It was my German oral exam and I, funnily enough, was describing children visiting a zoo. I hadn’t done that much revision for this exam and I was being guided through the experience by my teacher. It has stuck in my mind as one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. To this day!
What’s funny though is how totally irrelevant the exam is now.
This desperate clinging to how things are going to alter the entire course of our life. We place so much pressure, especially on children, for things that mean nothing.
As grownups, even in our 20s, we realise there are infinitely more options and opportunities available to us and what grade we get in a foreign language exam has no bearing on what we’ll do with the rest of our lives. It’s easy, of course, to say this in hindsight but be mindful.
Whatever you’re going through now, will it matter in a week or a month or a year – or more? Apply this lesson daily, it’ll enable you to focus on what really matters.