It’s like being lifted high off the earth and not knowing where I’m going to land when I come back down. And it’s more. It’s also the unknown of the landing itself. Will it be a soft or hard landing?

I’ve learned that worry is one of the most useless and negative emotions. (Is it an emotion? Whatever…) Who ever worries that something good is going to happen? Worry is assigned to anticipation of bad things. And, in my case, it’s always the very worse thing happening. As an example, after the pap call, I started to plan my funeral…that’s how worried I was. But what a waste of time and mental effort, not to mention the lost sleep! The procedure took care of the problem and I’m fine. (I just have to have pap smears every four months for a while. Yippee!)

So how do I stop worrying? One thing that has helped me is my belief that God has always done a great job of taking care of things and he will continue to do so. And, if the outcome isn’t to my liking, he will give me the strength to handle whatever comes my way. This belief works more often than not, but I still need to learn how to better shed worry from my life. Do I need to take yoga? (I’m worried that I’ll get stuck in one of those body-twisting positions.) Should I spend more time in church praying…in the bath tub relaxing…or searching the cupboards for comfort foods? None of these actions seem like good solutions to curbing worry.

Maybe I should just stop worrying about worrying. Maybe it’s time to accept the fact that worry is part of my nature, and, fortunately, it’s not a big part. I guess I just need to learn how to control the extent to which I worry. (I have to stop planning my funeral!)

The best thing I’ve learned over the years is to surround myself with positive people. They have added so much sunshine to my life. They may worry about things, but their optimism keeps them from going to the extreme. When faced with a challenge, they believe that everything will come out fine. And, if it doesn't, they map out ways to make it better. How nice it is when I present them with a problem I’m facing and they say “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine!” And it usually is!