You’ve got to admire the level-headed perspective of those who keep the Big Picture in clear focus. These people rarely, if ever, lose their cool, because they never ever let the little annoyances in life bother them.

Thank you for such a delightfully arcane statement, Gourmet Girl, says the World sarcastically. But just what is the Big Picture, and what good does it do for those of us who do not keep it in clear focus?

Good question, World. Allow me elaborate.

Oh, goody, we can’t wait.

Look, you keep that sarcasm dripping and I’ll stop talking to you altogether, so you just hush, World.

Thank you.

Now, as I was saying: the Big Picture varies depending on your outlook, worldview, background, race, nationality, yada yada. But all of the Big Pictures, I believe, can be summed up into one phrase:

“In light of eternity, just how much does my current circumstance matter?” or maybe “In ten years, how important will this inconvenience/heartache/worry/circumstance/accident/choice seem?”

Usually, the answer is “not very.”

This isn’t always true, of course. Some choices really are important when it comes to the grand scheme of your life. What to study, for example. Where you should go to college. Where you should work. Or who to marry. Or if you should marry at all. Or whether or not to exercise regularly. Whether or not you should eat Goldilock’s fruitcake.

Some circumstances are indeed life-altering, or even life shattering—in light of the next ten years, or even eternity, they are a big deal. Worth making a fuss about, even. Getting left at the altar is a biggie. Getting published is huge. Losing a loved one is life altering. Traveling to a different country could change your perspective on life forever. Yes, in light of eternity, some events are legitimately big enough, at least in the plan of your life, to warrant a little excitement…or sadness.

With that in mind, there are some things in life that simply aren’t worth making a fuss about. Spotty internet connections. Bad hair days, or even bad haircuts. A broken Christmas ornament. Getting stood up. Not having enough Bailey’s Irish cream in your coffee. A zit (come on, girls, you and I both know that we tend to freak out unnecessarily about those). Someone else grabbing the last glazed chocolate donut. Running out of ice cream in the fridge. The barista getting your order wrong (“I wanted a white chocolate moccha with skim, idiot, not whole! Good grief, people!”). Slow traffic. Long red lights.

These are the little things. And, in the Big Picture, they only add up to a couple of pixels in the far right corner. They’re no big deal.

That said, the splinter under my thumbnail that I got from trying to do some home fixes yesterday is probably not even going to be a memory in ten years or so. No big deal, right?

But, man, does it feel like one right now.