Whomever coined the phrase “Don’t sweat the small stuff”, must not have had a lot of “big” stuff to deal with.  My life is often so chaotic, I have a hard time knowing what is “small” and what is “big”.  I’m sure the intended message of the phrase is to treat everything in life like it’s “small” so you don’t stress about anything.  I just don’t how one can go about this!  Take for example my day today:  Aside from owning a baby equipment rental business, I’m also a CPA.  Yes, I know, the two don’t seem to mesh, what can I say, I’m not a typical CPA.  Anyhow, today I had a long-term client of mine that had a RUSH job for me.  It was a 6-8 hour job and they needed it TODAY.  My day was full (it almost always is) and  I had appointments, etc. (not to mention I stay home with my children).  Being the push-over I am, I canceled my appointments & I devoted 6 hours of my day to complete this project.  (Did I mention this is a client who hasn’t paid me in 5 months? ) All the while, I am answering phones for the rental business, coordinating deliveries and pick-ups, taking calls from other clients, doing laundry, playing with kids, making grocery lists, and planning play dates for my children!  It’s chaotic to say the least…..and this is pretty normal for me.  I think I tend to handle stress very well….usually.  Today, amidst all this chaos, our business phone line goes down, I learn my web designer will no longer be assisting us, and my one year old son is cranky as can be - all in one hour.   I decide to tackle one at a time…trying not to panic and telling myself not to “sweat the small stuff”.  Problem is  - what’s the small stuff?  They all seem like pretty big problems to me.  Problem #1) We have several messages we can not retrieve, so our customers will not be happy.  We could possibly be losing orders to our competitor because their phones are likely working.  Problem #2) What do I do without a web designer?  I know nothing about web design and I have changes that need to be made to our website asap!  Problem #3)When my son is not happy - none of us our happy.  He has a whine & cry that just makes everything come to a halt!  Okay, he’s the first one I tackle.  Eventually, I get my son down for a nap.  Problem #1 and Problem #2 are still unresolved.  I finally decide there is nothing I can do about Problem #1 - it’s completely out of my control.  Definitely qualifies as the “small stuff” now.  Problem #2, well, that’s a different story.  I completely relied on our web designer to always be there when we needed him.  I would often joke that he couldn’t leave us.  Never actually imagining that he would and all too soon.  I’m now on the hunt for a new web designer.  I don’t have the skills nor the time to learn the skills to handle our website — maybe someday, but definitely not today.  Seems like a “big” problem to me.  ”Why Me?”, I ask.   Then like a bolt of lighting, it hits me.  My problems could be worse.  In fact, they could be a lot worse.  I think of our dear friends, whose 11 month old has brain cancer — now that’s a “big” problem.  I suddenly find myself feeling guilty for thinking I had such ‘big” problems.  I don’t doubt for a second that they would rather deal with the phones lines, the web designer, or even my cranky, “healthy” son than deal with cancer….who wouldn’t!  I think I now know the real meaning of “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.”  To me it means, take your so called “problems” into perspective.  Think about what “problems” other people have to deal with and you will soon realize that your “problems” aren’t much of a problem anymore……just little road bumps that you will soon recover from.  Other people aren’t so lucky to have such “problems”, instead their problems don’t go away as easily and they don’t recover as easily.  So, I’ve learned a valuable lesson, I will try each and every day not to “sweat the small stuff.”  I hope you will too.

If you’d like to learn about my friends and their daughter, please visit www.nataliesfoundation.org