It does matter

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It doesn’t matter. I’ve heard some version of this from many people lately.  

It doesn’t matter

I don’t care

Oh well

It is what it is

The thing is though, it does matter to me. While I agree that something at work shouldn’t impact my overall well being, simply stating it doesn’t matter doesn’t do anything to stop it from mattering. As much as I know that it’s inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, it does matter to me because I care about who I am in this world. I care about the work I do. I care that if I tell someone that I’ll get it to them by EOD that I actually do it. What I learned though in my few days of PTO this week is that it does matter, but other things matter more.

I care about the Training that is happening right now, but I’m not going to send a Teams message to check in because I care more about my husband that is sitting right next to me. I care that I provide good work to my clients but I care more that I’ve had a fever for three weeks because my body is exhausted from overworking. I care about following through on my commitments to the company I work for, but I care more about my commitments to the friends and family that will be around longer than any job. 

Telling yourself “it doesn’t matter” is never going to get the result you want because if you’re stressed about it, if you’re  thinking about it, then you can’t erase that with statements that just aren’t true. If it’s consuming your thoughts then it does matter and while that feeling won’t just go away you might be able to overshadow it with thoughts of things that matter more. There are so many things in this world that matter, but we can only act on so many of them at a time. Figure out what matters most and maybe then all the other things that matter won’t seems to matter much at all.