Everything is Fine. Seriously.

The news is my least favorite reality show. The reporters are condescending, the stories are horribly boring and are often incorrect. Worst of all, the whole thing is just designed to make you worry.

A lot of people love to worry. Some people worry about peak oil. WHO THE HELL CARES? Gas is incredibly cheap. Three dollars a gallon. You can go 30 miles with that if you have a decent car. $3 to go 30 miles. What a deal! I think I’ve already ranted about this before, so I won’t go on about how cheap gas really is.

Global warming is just as bad. What are you going to do about it? NOTHING. If you’re a multibillionaire or are an actual global warming researcher, this doesn’t apply to you. Everyone else – shut up about global warming. You’ll be dead before it has any effect. The fact that people actually concern themselves about this boggles my mind.

People – we have genius scientists!

Don’t you get this? We have geniuses all over the world who have really good technology at their disposal. If there is a solution, they’re on it. If it becomes a serious threat, they will come up with a solution. Want proof? You’re still alive. Scientists in the past have handled every single huge problem we’ve had. Idiots who watch TV and get riled up about the latest thing to be worried about haven’t solved anything. Leave it to the scientists and you handle picking the kids up from school. Deal?

I never worry about anything. Know why? There’s no point in EVER worrying. If you worry, then you need to eliminate it as soon as possible.

There is absolutely no benefit in worrying. It depresses your mood, wastes your time, and worst of all, distracts you from actually SOLVING PROBLEMS. I’m not saying to ignore your problems – solve them. But do it logically – emotionally dwelling on the problem will cloud your judgement.

I learned to stop worrying back when I was a professional gambler. At first every loss would cause a knot in my stomach. I’d wonder what would happen if I kept losing. If I won I would bounce off the walls in excitement.

Eventually I realized that this was no way to live. The emotional swings weren’t serving me – they were impeding my progress. If I lost I would get upset and not want to play anymore. Or I would play dumb to try to get my money back.

Over time I learned to control my emotions almost completely. If I won I would be happy, but not dwell on the win. That’s dangerous too. Winning $4000 doesn’t make the next $100 any less important, so it’s good to not get caught up in it. If I lost I didn’t care. I’ve lost more money in a day than many people will ever earn in a year, but at dinner none of my friends could even tell anything was wrong. That’s because nothing was wrong – it was just part of the job.


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10 responses to “Everything is Fine. Seriously.”

  1. LadyTea Avatar
    LadyTea

    Wow, nicely said — I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. Actually brightened up my day. Last night I was worrying about how long my parents would live — if by 2020 we’d all live to 125, etc. What purpose did all that worrying serve? none whatsoever –I’m going to work on the emotional stability for poker, as well. Thanks for the post!

  2. David Avatar
    David

    Right on well put.

  3. Aimee Avatar
    Aimee

    It’s so refreshing to read something like this. It made me happy, thanks.

  4. Alcibiades Avatar
    Alcibiades

    Somebody had to say it! If we worried about things which MAY impact us hundreds of years from now, we would do nothing else. Let’s cure cancer in the meantime — that really does take lives!

  5. Stewen Wright Avatar
    Stewen Wright

    Croatia is going to shit, too much credits, way too much mafia, corupt judges, politicans on drugs, crayz ass ex-soldiers killing them selfs and others in the process. But…. I dont really care, I dont watch the news anymore. Only yesterday, my mother menaged to depress me with that storys from the news.

  6. Stewen Wright Avatar
    Stewen Wright

    None of that affects my daily life, except stupid corrupt politicians but I cant change that either. On the other hand, ex American ambassador, now in retirement, sold everithing and moved to live in Croatia. He loves how safe our streets are and how nice the see is. Its a great country, only you gotta bring your money with you.

  7. The Reel Deal Avatar
    The Reel Deal

    While I agree with your point of not worrying for everyday living (ie. controlling your emotions), I don’t agree with being apathetic about the environment and the things that will ‘hands down’ effect our lives in the future. But then again, ignorance can be bliss.

  8. undergroundman Avatar
    undergroundman

    You’re point that “we have genius scientists” is so stupid. Sure, we have some smart scientists, but they are chafing under restricted funding and freedom. They can’t do shit without money and support. And the greatest hurdles to overcoming global warming are ECONOMIC, not scientific. We need gas taxes and corporate R&D – both of which will not arise without public support.

    You can give them that support. You can support companies which support that as well. You can make a difference, because you’re one of the richest people in the world, even if you only make 10 bucks an hour.

    Worry serves an important function – it tells us that there’s something we need to watch out for, and perhaps address.

  9. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    Yo stupid! If big corprate type companies want to kill the earth to make money then we can’t stop them. Sure, we can stop buying their products, but that would be wasted efort.

  10. Steven Ponec Avatar
    Steven Ponec

    I really like this article and agree with a lot of the points. However, I think that worrying about or at LEAST thinking about global warming is important. In my mind, pushing off the decision to act on global warming makes it so it’s too late. I know you were just using it as an example. I definitely agree with the news thing though. I only want to be interested in it if it is actionable.

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