So how do we cope with the unknown future, the fear of how things will turn out, and the fear of how others will think of us? We do it by realizing we have control only over the choices we make in governance of ourselves and therefore focusing our energy on choosing to do what we believe is the healthiest, most reasonable, and most appropriate choice given the information we have at the time in any given situation.
Then - and here are three big keys to reducing stress - we 1) surrender our outcomes to a higher power; 2) evaluate the results and learn from the experience; 3) set other people free to think or feel any way they want about us, accept other's responses as evidence of their character, and make decisions based on the evidence on how we will interact with them in the future.
Timothy R. Jennings, "The Aging Brain," pages 156-157
