I believe in W.I.M.I.T.Y. Will it matter in ten years? As humans we have a tendency to worry. As Americans, we bring unneeded stress onto ourselves. As a 16-year-old female, I have the faults of my species and my nationality as well as the uneasy feelings of “Am I popular enough?” or “Do I look good enough?” running through my mind. But with the simple acronym of W.I.M.I.T.Y. deciding the complicated matters in life, I gain a sense of perspective that is truly enlightening.
I’m usually not an advocate for mentioning how cruel the world is whenever life is unfair. I live in the world, always have been, and I don’t believe it will change when I become 18. I believe I will have the same sort of challenges I face now throughout my life, even if on a larger scale. Losing a friend to drugs hurts as bad now as it will be to losing them to old age in the future. Getting an “A” in pre-calculus will bring the same amount of joy as getting a new job promotion later on. Bt if my life will consist of the same experiences in different packages, I better figure out my priorities now.
We only have so much time on this earth, and worrying will never add another year to our lives. With my hormonal levels and emotional immaturity, I tend to make spewing volcanoes out of red anthills. Take for example my US history class. The end of the first 9 weeks, I was faced with the possibility of getting a B. The tears threatened, as the day grew closer that my last test grades were added, and my prayer life might have rivaled Billy Graham’s before a revival. Finally the grades were sent and so began the daylong wait before the reports would be sent over the computer. But I had to ask myself, does this really matter? Will this really affect my future? Even in my melodramatic state I knew I was too stressed out. W.I.M.I.T.Y., will this matter in ten years? No it wouldn’t. Sure a B would sting a little, like a fire ant, but it wouldn’t be to the magnitude of hot lava crushing my soul, such as if a parent died.
I’m content with not worrying. It’s a process, but in the whole scope of things you can lay out your issues. Sometimes the lava will come boiling around you, and when that time comes I’m prepared to be burned. But I can clean out my ant bites for now and keep a simple acronym in my head to make it through high school, and the next ten years. Which will only be the tiniest bit sweeter with my A in US history.