Something that’s wrecking your week right now will be a story you barely remember in five years. Not all of them, but most.

Most of what ruins a week does not last. The argument, the bad grade, the thing you said at lunch that you keep replaying: in five years nearly all of it will be gone from memory, not because it did not matter but because almost nothing holds that long. The exception is real too. Some things do stay, and pretending otherwise would be cheap.

When something flattens you this week, ask whether you will still be telling this story in five years. If the answer is probably not, you can let the day be bad without also treating it as permanent.