“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” — Matthew 6:34 NIV

Years ago I sat at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant when a guest at our table tried to engage the cook in a conversation regarding a recent societal event. The cook simply retorted back, Not my problem. The guest continued to push our cook for his opinion on several social topics, but his response was the same — Not my problem. For the entirety of our meal the cook expounded on his philosophy of keeping his mind focused on only his own worries, not someone else’s problems.

I left that restaurant satisfied with an excellent meal and inspired by the cook’s commitment of not wasting his time worrying about things he has little or no control of. There really is no reason to worry about things that don’t personally impact you or don’t even involve your input for the outcome. It might be tempting to hop on social media and blast your opinions and grievances, but the result is usually just higher blood pressure with little or no pay-off to your happiness or success.

Each of us has enough problems of our own to worry about, and none of us has enough emotional bandwidth to embrace worries from others and beyond. Let’s worry wisely, not widely.