Prioritizing Your Concerns

Everyday I talk to people who are concerned about something. Many of their concerns have to do with things that they have read in the newspaper, heard on a radio talk show or seen on TV. It seems there is no end to the bad news with which we are inundated. How is a person supposed to cope with all this? How do we keep it from overwhelming us?

My answer is prioritizing your concerns by determining which things affect you the most. I feel the best way to do that is to develop a list of questions, answer them and then sort your concerns according to the answers.

For example:
Has you or any member of your immediate family been ---
... Attacked by a terrorist?
... Mistreated by the police?
... Shot?
... Raped?
... Robbed?
... Treated in a heavy-handed manner by a government official?
... Harassed by the IRS?
... Forced to pay an unfair amount of property tax?
... Gouged by someone selling ice and gasoline after a natural disaster?
... Poisoned by Chinese cat food?
... The victim of a stroke or heart attack caused by arthritis medicine?
... Blinded by an erectile dysfunction medicine?
... Flooded out by rising sea levels caused by global warming?
... Forced to wait too long in line at the post office?
...Gotten salmonella from bad peanut butter or e-coli from ground beef?
...Had to significantly alter your life style due to rising fuel prices?


Enough, you get the idea. Now make a list of questions like that for yourself, list everything that currently concerns you. Answer the questions, “yes”, “maybe” or “no”. Then sort the list based on the answers, yes questions first, maybe questions second and no questions third.

Voila, now you have a priority list of concerns. Worry, if you like, about the ones at the top of the list, think occasionally about the ones in the middle and forget about the ones at the bottom.

You have my permission to sub sort within the three categories based on your own feelings and prejudices.