Fix it Or Forget it, or “What? Me Worry?”

Two avenues of thought for your consideration:


There’s a crockpot cookbook which recently became very popular titled Fix it and Forget it.   Very catchy, and a very useful collection of recipes for people on the go, or too tired at the end of the day to go any further in their day and create fabulous food.  They want food ready when they walk in the door so they can just sit down and chow down, now.  I highly recommend it as a solution to the incessant and ongoing need to feed hungry humans.


And....Have you ever heard of, or do you recall Mad Magazine?  It was popular during the 60s–kind of like an early Saturday Night Live in print–a satire on politics, and popular culture in cartoon-like comic book style.  Probably an outgrowth of all that hippie, beatnik revolution stuff.  Its influence was even seen in the TV series called Dobie Gillis which featured a beatnik guy named Maynard G. Krebbs, who did little or nothing, was completely anti-establishment and spoke in weird sentences; his most popular may have been “You rang?”  Well, as I recall,  Mad Magazine had a weird looking little guy whose most popular sentence was “What? Me Worry?” The older I get, the more I realize that he had the right idea. 


Where am I going with this?  Well, it occurred to me that WORRYING IS USELESS! AND ANNOYING!  So I am coining a new motto: FIX IT OR FORGET IT, and  I’m calling it FIFI– the acronym reminds me of those pampered poodles it seems everyone was fussing over and primping and carrying about and naming Fifi years ago.  Do you recall?


So, I’m climbing onto my soapbox today and this is my message to the world:   


Life is too short to be worrying.  And if that doesn’t resonate, let me say it this way: All the things you are worrying about will eventually fade.  They are not worth spending your life’s valuable moments agonizing over them. 


I know it’s easy to say when they are not your own concerns.  And I am not suggesting that there are not things to be concerned about and solve.  But giving them any more energy than simply fixing them and forgetting about them steals bits of your life away.  And feeling miserable about things you can’t fix, is a crime.   And it can make you sick, physically and mentally.  I know this.  I have experienced this.  Too often.       


Here’s my most recent example:  While Dad and I were cleaning up the garage yesterday,  Jack (our dog) came across the rat/mice poison bar, and promptly began chewing on it!  Yikes!  That’s not good.  And Dad said, “That dog is either going to be very sick or dead.”  At that very moment Worry crept in along with his best pals, Anxiety and Fear.   I just hate those guys, all three of them!  And I get sick to my stomach when they visit for even a minute! 


My first reaction was a kneejerk factual approach along the lines of “whatever happens, happens.”  That is my protective “I’m not worrying about this” response.  A few minutes later, I thought of a possible remedy for the dog, which we initiated.  And then we took the “wait and see” approach.  And happily, the dog lived through it.  (He is considerably larger than a mouse, and I imagine he ate very little of the poison before Dad spotted him doing so.)  For all of you dog lovers out there, I know my approach may be unconscionable to you for a variety of reasons.  But it is what it is.  And the point of the story is– fix the problem and/or forget it.  But don’t make yourself and everyone crazy!  And don’t let Worry, Fear and Anxiety move in with you!


So, from my soapbox I am proclaiming: FIFI!  FIFI!  Fix it or Forget it! {And in the background you may be able to hear Bobby McFerrin singing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”}