WHAT NOT TO WORRY ABOUT

What were we worried about?

The New York Giants won the Super Bowl last night in the form they're famous for -- the win wasn't fancy, but you could cut the determination with a knife. Eli talked down to the microphone as he left the field: How did they pull it out? "We had faith in each other. And there was no other outcome."

We're big Giants fans, and we were worried about that outcome! A game is the simple stuff to be worried about. In fact, being worried about whether the Giants could pull it off was a nice break from being worried about the other stuff. And when it's all over, we are relieved - but not elated, feeling kind of like "OK, that was easy".

If having faith in your team is how you win, along with playing the game one pass reception at a time, why is it so easy to succumb to worry?

It isn't like me to work a sports metaphor, so let me take a left turn and share something more erudite, get back on familiar ground.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a great one for analyzing what there was to worry about, and yet his wealth and love for a cocktail led him ever to the contrary. This is Fitzgerald's beautiful letter to his 11-year old daughter, Scottie - a list of things to worry about, not to worry about and simply think about.

Things to worry about:

Worry about courage
Worry about cleanliness
Worry about efficiency
Worry about horsemanship

Things not to worry about:

Don’t worry about popular opinion
Don’t worry about dolls
Don’t worry about the past
Don’t worry about the future
Don’t worry about growing up
Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don’t worry about triumph
Don’t worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don’t worry about mosquitoes
Don’t worry about flies
Don’t worry about insects in general
Don’t worry about parents
Don’t worry about boys
Don’t worry about disappointments
Don’t worry about pleasures
Don’t worry about satisfactions

Things to think about:

What am I really aiming at?
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:

(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?

With dearest love,

Daddy

(Source: F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters; Image: F. Scott Fitzgerald with his daughter, Scottie, in 1924.)