6 Things You Don’t Have to Worry About

You worry a lot. Don’t try to deny it; we all worry a lot. Look around, there seems to be good reason to panic. We’re college students too, so we have a free stress-pass. Yet we are told, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27, NIV).
Today, I consider it my sacred duty to relieve you of some of that hand-wringing stress. Here are 6 things you don’t need to worry about:

1. An asteroid crashing into the planet and destroying us all
The likelihood of an object hitting Earth decreases as its size increases. Tiny meteorites plummet to the ground all the time, but truly harmful objects only come near enough every couple hundred thousand years. Plus, telescopes routinely scan for objects and calculate the orbits of near-earth objects. You don’t even have to lose sleep over smaller debris: most space fragments burn up long before impact and create shooting stars. Make a wish!

2. The Plague
Welcome to the modern world – we have antibiotics for the Black Death now, and chances of another outbreak are slim in developed countries. Even if it’s used as a biological weapon, treatment is rather simple and the future of any infected patient is generally bright.

3. Going bald
Technically, you do have to worry about it a little. The good news is, going bald isn’t such a big deal. Science exists and can regrow your hair for you. Or you can get wigs and change styles every day, which is neat. Hats are also pretty fashionable. For that matter, so is baldness sometimes.

4. Winning the lottery
Do you ever find yourself wondering what you would do if you won an enormous amount of money? What are you going to buy? Who are you going to share it with? And, where in the world are you going to put the swimming pool in that mansion? Those are questions to keep you up at night! Sleep well, my friend, comfortable in the knowledge that your chances of winning the lottery are a mere one in 175 million.

5. Swallowing gum
It’s true that your body can’t digest swallowed gum, but it doesn’t stay in your stomach for seven years. Not that I recommend swallowing gum. Bonus: watermelon seeds won’t sprout in acid, especially not without sunlight.

6. Dinosaurs
They’re extinct. And most of them were herbivores anyway.

Really, though. Take a deep breath; it’s going to be just fine. Hakuna matata!