I can't have fun if I'm worried about something else

June 15th, 2026. 10:45 PM

I learned something new about myself today. I can't let go and enjoy something fully if I'm feeling anxious about something.

I went to the beach today. I love swimming and I like to think that I'm a decent swimmer. I put all my stuff down and got in the water. As I'm swimming, I realized I'm worried about my phone. I left my stuff on a towel on the beach, in a not-so-nice area, and I couldn't help but to keep checking on my stuff. On top of that, I parked somewhere that said no parking on school days. It was a school day, but there were a lot of cars parked there, so I thought it would be okay since it's summer.

I kept thinking they're going to tow my car, and someone is going to steal my phone when I dive into the water. These anxious thoughts took away the joy of something I really like. I still enjoyed the water, but not to the extent I had planned to earlier.

As I'm swimming, this exact thought came to my mind about writing this. I thought about how anxiety robs the joy from other things in my life. If I have something weighing on my brain, I can't fully enjoy whatever task I have at hand. So I told myself, I need to learn to focus. I need to learn to tune everything out and focus on what I'm doing in the present moment, otherwise I'm not going to enjoy it.

There are activities, like boxing, where I tune everything out and just focus on improving my technique. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I feel my best after a solid boxing workout. But I need to apply that concept to other areas in my life. Focus on the task at hand.