In this time of COVID-19 pandemic, many people worry about possible loss of income, resources, and lives. Some people worry about imaginary and trivial things, and others worry without doing anything. Some people do everything they can and still worry.
However, some people do what they can and don’t worry, because they know that beyond what they can do, things are no longer in their hands. They find it reasonable and soothing to accept things that are beyond their control, and find it irrational, predictably frustrating, and stressful to resist things that are out of their control. The frustration and stress not only add to the tragedy, but are even worse than the tragedy itself.
Acceptance relieves, calms, and gives peace of mind. In the Lord’s prayer, a person asks for God’s will to be done. Jesus accepted his passion. In the serenity prayer, a person asks God to grant him or her the serenity to accept the things he or she cannot change.
The Greek stoics were experts in acceptance. Because they acknowledged the fact that many things are temporary, matter is destructible, and people are mortal, they gladly accepted losing them. They also believed that everything and everyone they had belonged to nature. If they lost these things, they said to themselves that the owner had simply taken them back. They even embraced their own deaths.
While we quarantine ourselves, let us take precautions, rest, pray, bond with our family, develop ourselves, assess our values, declutter our homes, and accept things beyond our control, instead of worrying. As Leo Aikman says, “Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.” The Bible also asks, “Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?” So why worry?
JORI GERVASIO R. BENZON
joribenzon@gmail.com