In my 37 years of life on this earth, I am not embarrassed to say I have probably spent about 32 of them worrying about something. Thinking back, I can probably pinpoint kindergarten as the time in my life when "worry" was introduced into my vocabulary. Kindergarten was the time in my life where my perfectionistic nature started revealing itself. It was the time when I came home from school crying because the dog I colored was outside the lines and looked more like a messy blob than anything that resembled an animal. I was also caught that same year putting a rosary around my neck rather than leaving it on the desk like the teacher asked. My teacher's unhappiness with my behavior was unbearable.
The summer following my sixth grade graduation was when worry and anxiety really started to affect my life. That was the first time I was really directly affected by death. This was the time when I realized nothing I held dear in this life was permanent. It was the summer my grandmother (my father's mother) died. I was lucky enough to spend years of before and after school days at my beloved grandmother's house. She taught me how to paint my nails, how to wear "rouge" and how to enjoy her homemade Italian food from the time I walked into her home in the morning till the time I left to go home at night. (This might be reason I was never considered a skinny child). I do believe when she passed it marked the end of my innocence and the time I realized misfortune could happen to anyone - no one was exempt to the disappointments of life.
It's been a long time of dealing with my grief, anxiety and the unpredictability of life in general. Although I'm at a point in my life where my anxiety takes more of a backseat, I'm not ashamed to say I've had years where I have certainly struggled with my anxiety. Due to my husband, family, friends, meditation and fabulous professionals, I am stronger than I have ever been. But I have also realized that I am not alone in this struggle. Over 40 million adults in the US also suffer from anxiety. There is also no doubt that many, many others have had anxiety affect them in some way over their life.
The pivotal moment that everyone needs to rise above is this: accepting that worry never changes the outcome of life. Worrying only makes you unhappy. Worrying, although how easy it is for some of us to do, wouldn't have made me color within the lines any better and certainly wouldn't have saved my grandmother from passing away. Worrying simply sucked the joy out of everything else that was in my life.
I am relating this important lesson to one of my passions, insurance. As mentioned above, worrying will not change the outcome of your life. Worrying, however, encourages me to assess the risk of a situation and have a toolbox of solutions handy. Ultimately, your actions are something you can control. Your actions of making sure you have the right coverages in place for your business, can reduce some of that worry. So, if that uncontrollable "thing" happens, you have a plan in place to make sure the result isn't so detrimental and you are able to rise above in your time of misfortune.
Make sure you select an insurance agent that asks a lot of questions. The reason they most likely ask is because they care about you and they want to fully understand the risks that face you. Be transparent. Be gracious. They want to know more about you. They don't know what they don't know and you are not just like everybody else. You have unique risks that face you and your business.
Although worrying doesn't ever go away completely, knowing that I am able to control the controllable sure helps me worry a little less. Remember you can control the insurance professionals that you surround yourself with, choose wisely and worry less.