I love the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon has a knack for giving us an aerial view of spectrums. He loves extremes. He compares the very wealthy to the very poor, the complete moron to the sage, life and death, good and evil, sickness and health. And he says there is nothing new under the sun.

This week I have come face to face with an issue I would rather not deal with. This is how I am tackling it.

Catrostophizing: the unhealthy practice of extrapolating a situation to mammoth size before it even happens (my definition). I did that. I created an industry around this situation, one that started as a mere thought grew into a conglomerate with multiple locations and although I had built this industry, I awoke the next day reluctant to walk through its gates because I was afraid.

In thinking about Ecclesiastes, I embrace the truth that there is nothing new under the sun. I am relieved that as a participant of planet earth, there is no part of the spectrum we can’t handle. Between the extremes of life and death, there is enough strength to handle this- this, being any thing that happens across the range from good to evil. Between the extremes of wisdom and foolishness, there is enough wisdom to come up with a solution. Between wealth and poverty, there is sufficient resource here on earth.

My son once said that God wouldn’t have put us in this world with all its pressures if we couldn’t overcome them. We were built to withstand and solve problems.

You don’t have to live any part of your life in fear or anxiety, there is nothing new under the sun. There is nothing you are not capable of handling. Sure, it won’t always be pleasant, but life also swings between bitter and sweet and we arrive at situations sometimes carrying strength and at other times, weakness.

So today, I feel energised and capable. If you, like me woke up with foreboding thoughts, borrow a leaf from Solomon’s book. Zoom out and take an aerial view of life. See what point of the spectrum you are currently sitting on. If you look closely enough you’ll see that you are not marooned to the same spot, you have always oscillated between extremes and you have always handled it, you can and you will overcome whatever is on your plate. You were built for this.