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Learning to let go is a gift you can give yourself, a very valuable gift.
I’m often amazed at how people get so bent-out-of-shape over the small stuff. You know—like yelling at an airline employee because a flight is late, screaming at the driver in front who stopped on a green light, fussing at your kids or mate because they left socks on the floor, losing sleep because your next-door neighbor’s dog irritates you. Small stuff. And then I have to recognize that I let small stuff upset my days far too often as well.
Years ago I began to see that this was a problem for me. I was really bad at letting the small stuff ruin my days. So, I started praying about it, for one thing; and then I learned a simple technique which has served me well. When I’m starting to get upset, I ask myself, “What difference will this make in twenty-four hours?” And I’ve set a rule for myself that if it won’t matter this time tomorrow, I simply am not allowed to spend any energy on it. I can’t get angry; I can’t get frustrated; I can’t get my feelings hurt; I can’t complain about it—because it won’t make one bit of difference this time tomorrow.
I highly recommend that you learn to ask yourself this simple question—what difference will this make in twenty-four hours—because I can testify that it is life-changing. You will learn to let go of the small stuff, and you’ll discover that probably about 90 percent of what is bugging you today is small stuff that won’t matter in twenty-four hours. Just think of how much stress this will take out of your life.
Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).