Book of the Week: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

27 May 2013

One of the lessons from 30 Lessons for Living is to stop worrying. This week, I divide further into the topic of worry with How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie. The same Dale Carnegie who wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Every day is a new life to a wise man. - unattributed

There are two types of people, those who worry and those who used to worry. People worry about a lot of things. The problem is that once people stop worrying about one thing, they’ll start worrying about another. It is not the problems that affect people adversely, it is the worrying about those problems. Worrying is related to how we view the world. By changing our perspective, the worry goes away. This book is about ways we can change our perspective. Counting your blessings instead of your problems helps. Jay-Z has 99 problems, but worrying isn’t one of them. It is not the things that happen, but how we deal with them that make us happy. Being relaxed and well rested also helps with reducing worry. Dale tells many stories of people overcoming their worries. If you took out the stories, there wouldn’t be much left of the book. I like the stories, because it brings a historical perspective. Worry transcends time periods. Being happy is a choice.

Don’t worry, be happy. -Bobby McFerrin

Purchase How to Stop Worrying and Start Living from Amazon.com or check it out from your local library.