The Last Word

By Bruno Hare | Posted: Tuesday March 21, 2023

I'm going to start with a quote. 'Here I am having a good time, riding the waves with my friends, not caring about who wins or loses but just surfing. Good old fashioned fun.' Cody Maverick, Surfs Up.

Today boys I’m going to talk to you about worry. Something that Cody in this quote has none of and is clearly happy because of it.

As a child, we had far less to worry about. Meaning we could live the carefree, low stress life so we could enjoy ourselves so much more. However, somewhere between growing up, having more responsibilities and yes, school, our stress levels went up considerably which led to far less fun being had on a day to day basis. After all, we are biologically programmed to worry, to respond to the fear and stress when we see something dangerous. However, this defence mechanism is overused. This can be better managed by simply reducing what causes stress in our lives and changing our mindset, because no one said we couldn't feel as carefree as we did way back then.

An excess of worry only leads to negative outcomes. You waste energy worrying about things that you realise too late don’t matter. Like having a slightly dusty haircut that no one even notices anyway, or worrying about something that you can’t actually do anything about, in this case the fresh trim. It’s better to just face any banter that comes your way instead of worrying about what people might say. Part of the problem is worrying about what other people think, but what makes their opinion more important than yours anyway? Not worrying about things that we can’t control or aren’t actually important can reduce a lot of worry in anyone's life. See it as Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes does, when he says, "From now on my rallying cry is: So What?!"

Worry can also be decreased by removing things from our life that make us worry. Whether this is through things that make us stressed or just unhappy. If these things no longer exist, we don’t have to waste time and energy thinking about them so we can spend more time doing things we enjoy and are good for us. However, I hate to break it to you guys. This doesn't mean you can just stop going to school because you don’t enjoy it, or not go to training because you can’t be bothered. Although these things might cause you stress and not make you happy, you've got to think about when you can’t get the job you want because you are not qualified. You will end up working long hours at a job you hate with bad pay so your worry will increase long term, or when your coach makes you a bench warmer for not going to training, you could start to worry about the team’s selection process coming up.

To put it simply, nothing needs to be worried about. Some things just need to be considered, and while this is easier said than done, it is definitely worth making the change for the better. Get rid of that worry; laugh, smile, enjoy yourself and be more light hearted. If not anything else, do it for your mates because it’s infectious. 

Boys, 'Hakuna matata', this means 'no worries' and is from the movie, The Lion King.