Many of us want to talk about the negative. We are awash with a culture that takes great glee in stoking the fires of seeing the worst in the “other” side.

We have to stop this.

You can’t control the world. It’s a chaotic place. But you can control your attitude and approach to the world.

It’s fashionable today to talk about how “stressed” you are. After all, you have a home, a career, maybe children, maybe an elderly parent. Maybe you’re elderly yourself.

You’re under a lot of pressure.

Or are you?

The great golfer and all-around good guy Lee Trevino was asked about the pressure on a golfer playing in a championship tournament. Thinking back to his days as a beginner, he set the record straight: “Pressure is trying to make a putt for a $10 bet with only $5 in your pocket.”

No matter what you do, you can control your attitude and approach to life. You don’t have to complain about things that don’t really matter, and about things over which you have no control.

Don’t waste your life doing that. One day, a breath will be your last. But you don’t — you can’t — know when that will be.

We were lucky when we were in our car wreck. We got a second chance.

And the lesson we both learned was: Cherish, enjoy, share and live your life without worry.

Savor those sweet breaths, and remember how precious they are.

Frances Coleman is a former editorial page editor of the Mobile Press-Register. Email her at [email protected] and “like” her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances.