Stressing over things

In yesterday's post I wrote about some of the problems I've been experiencing lately at work. As I said there, we're understaffed, overworked, and we still have one more month to go. I'm currently working in a new position, because the person who worked there before got Covid, and until he recovers, someone has to fill up. This means that I have to do work that I have never done before, at a time when clients keep coming for some reason, despite the season almost getting to an end.

In short, I'm under quite some stress, increased by the fact that I have very little time at my disposal to do anything I like. When I do take the time to do one of those things, I often get annoyed that I have to leave before feeling like I finished what I started.

Today I was under an extra amount of pressure because a lot of people were booked for tonight, way too many for how many workers we currently are in the restaurant. I expected complete chaos. I made dozens of scenarios in my head. I tried to plan ahead. I was ready for failure, and that generated quite a lot of unpleasantness for me.

But after the night ended, I was once again reminded of the fact that no matter how much we try to predict the future, things can take a completely different turn than what you initially expect. Once again I was put in a position in which I had to accept the fact that I stressed myself too much over nothing.

I'm saying this because, against any expectation, the night went well. I said "against any expectation" because even though we were already quite booked and had a lot of clients in the restaurant, even more came from the street, so we had way more than we initially thought.

And yet, everything went well. Granted, there was stress, and everybody ran around all the time, hurrying as much as they could, doing their best to avoid making mistakes and to take food out. But still, things worked out. Not a single mistake happened, everything went smoothly, and the night ended okay. Sure, we got out later than usual, but that was the least of our worries.

Basically, I stressed myself the entire day for absolutely nothing. There was chaos, as I thought it will, but it was a controlled one.

So, here's what you can learn from this: sometimes stressing over something too much and for too long can be useless, simply because things might just work out despite of all your worries.

I can't tell you not to stress over what's happening or might happen in your life, because that'd be hypocritical. I stress myself quite often about unimportant things. But it's worth remembering that sometimes things might simply just work out, and you might end up worrying too much for no reason.