I spend no less than six hours of my day, every day, worrying. These hours are not consecutive, but if you add up the thoughts between the words, the breaks taken to simply stand in a bathroom and catch my breath, the cyclical, terrorizing patterns my brain likes to follow, if you add these up, they must take up a fourth of my day. That's almost two days of my week spent worrying. That is time I cannot get back. What I wouldn't do for two extra days.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe you spend your time scheduling your days to a perfect T. Maybe you find yourself scrutinizing over the smallest of details. Maybe you find yourself raking your brain for problems; problems with this, with them, with everything. There must be a problem. There has to be a problem that you're not seeing. Maybe you live this life. Maybe you lose those days with me. And maybe you want something different.

Worrying, to those of us who live it, seems almost second nature. There is always something to fret. There is always something to fear. Nothing can ever go right, not really. There's some hiccup in the schedule, some turn you weren't in control of; yes, there's always something to worry over.

But my friend, my companion, my dear reader, worrying will not make things right. There is a line between a healthy sense of caution and rampant worrying. There is a line between habit and vice. This is a line I cannot draw for you, for it is one I do not always know myself, but I do know this: worrying doesn't help.

There are things to fear. There are things to fret. These are few and far between. Bad things will happen. That is the harsh reality and the price we must pay for living. For good there must be bad. There is a balance. There is a plan you cannot see, no matter how hard you squint your eyes. You will not always be prepared. You will be caught off-guard, surprised by how wrong things can go. But there will be days where you are surprised by how right things can be. You will surprise yourself. Do not worry. Do not fret. Life will go on; go with it.

You lose two days a week, one hundred and four days a year. Worrying will not let you love a single one of those. Do not miss birthdays. Do not miss sunsets. Do not miss her laugh. Do not miss his smile. Do not miss this. Do not let worrying take this away from you.

Get out of your mind. It gets dark in there. Get out of yourself. Put some light into this dark and dreary world. It does not need your worries, and neither do you. Trust. Trust something greater than you. Trust someone other than yourself.

Live. For me, for you, for her, live.