Worrying Adds Unnecessary Stress

Here is my very first guest post by my longtime friend, Rosie, who is a worrywart like me. She is the mother of two children (ages 6 and 3), so they probably have something to do with her worrying. I’ve also noticed her worrying increases the older she gets (or maybe it’s just the longer she is friends with me and my worrying is rubbing off on her). Hope you can find some comfort in her post!

What is stress?

Stress is dealing with the crazy drivers at rush hour when you just want to get home. Stress is worrying about your children getting hurt. Stress is moving (I should know because I just did.) Stress is adjusting to a new job. Stress is trying to please everyone when you just can't. Stress is worrying about your health. Stress is...well, you get the point.

Stress is a part of everyday life for everyone. It consumes the lives of many of us. Gone are the carefree days we experienced as children. Oh, some days I wish to be a child again!

I worry and stress myself out a lot. My heart races, and I feel sick to my stomach and like things are spinning. What do I stress about? Little things sometimes. Like writing this article. Will anyone actually like it?

My husband tells me I need to relax. I worry about him and my kids and friends and family and sometimes just life in general. I have been doing better, though (somewhat, anyway). I am trying to think things through before I throw them out of proportion and stress out for no reason. My biggest stresses lately have been moving and buying our first home, as well as worrying about first bills and payments that we haven't had before. Maybe it won't be as bad as I think it is, but it is a big stress in my life.

So, if you are like me and worry which causes stress, try to take things with a grain of salt and try not to worry so much. Take deep breaths and good luck!

Lizards, Bees, and (Gasp!) Butterflies

Working out in the gym can become repetitive and boring. That’s why it’s good to change up the routine and do something else like go hiking, as my husband and I did this past week.

We had traveled the path before, so we knew what to expect. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop me from worrying.

As my husband and I hiked the trail, I tuned in to nature. For example, I was very aware of insects - possibly mosquitos - trying to bite me. While slapping them away, I began to wonder, “What if the trees are full of ticks and one falls on me?” (Actually, this is one of my greatest fears while in the woods, probably because a tick landed on me during recess in the fifth-grade.) I also was aware of slight drop offs and worried about losing my footing and slipping down one.

Then, without warning, leaves began to rattle. My first thought: It’s a snake! Instead, what emerged, was a cute, cuddly squirrel. Not long afterwards, more rattling leaves caught our attention. “Did you see the size of that lizard?” my husband asked. Unfortunately - or probably fortunately in my case - I did not see it.

We resumed our walk, and it was not long before we heard the rattling of more leaves. Up ahead, not far from the trail, five squirrels were playing together and chasing each other. It was such a cute scene and made my worries fade until bees (or maybe they were yellow jackets) started buzzing in my ear and chasing me.

So I waved my hands in front of my face. And ran.

“Watch out! Don’t trip over the roots!” my husband yelled after me.

By the time my husband caught up with me, I had successfully avoided the bees (or yellow jackets). We were almost to the end of the trail when a black insect flew up in my face. I screamed. My husband laughed.

“Are you scared of a butterfly?” he asked.

“No,” I said as I noticed the insect was a beautiful butterfly - black with white markings. “I couldn’t tell what it was at first. You know I love butterflies.”

I sighed. This was supposed to be a stress-free way to get some exercise, and all I did the entire time was worry about what could happen. Why? Maybe it's because I have bad luck with bugs. They're usually attracted to me and cause me to have huge bug bites. Or maybe it's because nature can be so unpredictable.


Either way, could you imagine me on an episode of “Man vs. Wild”?

Things Aren’t Always As Bad As They Seem

There it was. Just as the radar had promised.

The cloud was very dark, almost purple. If it hadn’t been so ominous, it might have been even pretty. But I knew what it could cause - heavy rain, lightening, and gusty winds. My husband and I were heading away from the storm, but it would be only a matter of time before it reached us.

Thankfully, we arrived home before the storm hit. And to our surprise, the storm wasn’t as bad as it had looked.

Huh. Weird, I thought.

As a worrywart, this seems to happen a lot. I tend to worry before there is anything to worry about. I can see a potential problem (or at least I think I do sometimes), and then nothing happens. Like the recent storm, I thought it was going to be one of the strongest storms I had ever experienced, but then not much happened. We had some rain and thunder and lightening, but not much else. I had worried about nothing. Again. I had unnecessarily stressed myself out. Again.

And I hope I’m worrying about nothing now. As I’ve said before, I have a vascular condition on one of my legs and one of my biggest worries is blood clots. Recently, I went to the doctor and found out that while the veins in my legs look pretty good, I have a couple of spots that are similar to varicose veins. The doctor didn’t seem too worried about them, so I left feeling relieved. Until now.

My leg has started aching at times, but I know I shouldn’t be concerned about it because the doctor reassured me that there was nothing to worry about. I know before I’ve mentioned the idea of creating a list of things that I’ve worried about but never happened. I think this would be good time to do that to help me stop worrying about my leg.

Here’s a sample of my list (I say sample because this has the potential to be a long list):

Being caught in a tornado (knock on wood, this hasn’t happened).
Getting a blood clot on an airplane (knock on wood, this hasn’t happened).
Seeing rain on my wedding day (the weather ended up being absolutely perfect!).
Slipping on ice in the snowstorms this past winter (by the time I drove by myself, the ice had melted from the major roadways).
Traveling to Germany by myself and getting lost at the airport (it ended up being a breeze finding my way around - even though I don’t speak German!).
Driving and getting lost in unfamiliar areas, especially in downtown areas (the GPS is a great invention and has helped me to find my way a lot).
Getting sick by eating unfamiliar foods in foreign countries (i.e., octopus in Italy).

Looking at this list, I have to say I feel a little silly having worried about such things. But hindsight’s 20/20, right? It’s nice to look back on the things that I thought were going to end poorly and realize that they weren’t as bad as they had seemed at the time. I must keep this in mind when I start worrying again...