Fellow Rotarians,

I’ve lived with anxiety for most of my life. I know what it’s like to be tired, to want to sleep, and to have your mind keep working through everything that might go wrong.

So I won’t stand here and tell anyone to “just stop worrying.” If it were that easy, I would have done it years ago.

But I’m learning that I can care deeply without having to carry every possible outcome. I can prepare, make a decision, do what is within my reach, and give myself permission to leave some things unresolved until tomorrow.

Worry asks, “What if?” Sometimes a more useful question is, “What can I do today?”

Maybe I can make one phone call. Have one conversation I’ve been avoiding. Ask for help. Or recognize that I’ve done what I can, and that another hour of thinking won’t move me any closer to an answer.

That’s something we can offer one another here in Rotary. Along with our work in the community, we can be people who listen, who help, and who remind each other that we don’t have to figure everything out alone.

This week, I hope we’ll each take one concern and find one manageable step forward. And if there is no step to take today, I hope we can allow ourselves a little peace while we wait.

We don’t need certainty about the whole road ahead to take the next good step.

Until next Wednesday, may something good happen because you were there.

Ross