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The Pebbles in My Shoe
Life is hard enough without this kind of stuff
There is an old saying that it’s not the mountain ahead that wears you out. It’s the pebble in your shoe. Some attribute it to Muhammed Ali, while others attribute it to a number of other people. No one really knows for sure who said it first, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter, at least to me, is how incredibly true it is.
What is meant by this saying is it’s not the big things in life that are going to wear you out. It’s the little, everyday things you have to deal with that will slowly erode your ability to cope. It’s the little things that chip away at the glue that holds you together, the mortar that bonds you to rational behavior. I think of these as “micro-stressors” (you heard it here first, folks). They are the events that wear you down a little at a time, and while no one micro-stressor will shatter your peace, added together day after day, they will completely shred you and your sanity.
Like everyone, I have plenty of the “big things” in my life, the mountains I have to scale. I have two jobs, both of which I have to be on time for and be prepared to do competently. I have to make sure the cash flow in our household is such that the sands of the financial hourglass don’t run out before the time is up. I have to make sure various aspects of our small farm are taken care of so next year’s…
