No Tornado Watches, No Tornado Warnings, Almost No Worries

While watching the red and yellow clumps slowly move on the radar, I thought I had a chance to make it home safely before the severe storms hit.

I quickly turned off the computer, grabbed my purse, and headed out of the office. Once outside, I was relieved to see that it wasn’t raining and the sky had lightened up a bit. “I’m leaving just in time,” I thought.

As I got closer to home, the darker it got. And then I saw it.

Straight ahead of me was one of the darkest clouds I had ever seen. And it looked just like a tornado.

I called my dad to ask him if he knew if we were under a tornado watch. “No, no,” he said. “There’s not a tornado watch. Hot and cold air have to meet, and we don’t have enough cold air coming through.”

“But there’s this cloud in front of me! It really looks like a tornado!” I protested.

My dad laughed at my useless worrying. “It’s not a tornado.”

So I dismissed the safety action plan that was forming in my head and ventured on to my home. About that time, a fellow worrywart called and asked me if I was driving. “I was just wondering,” she said, “because I see something that looks like a tornado near you.”

Action plan back on.

“I thought it looked like one, too! My dad says we’re not under a tornado watch, though,” I said, trying to stay calm.

Just then, a burst of wind violently shook my car, and I gripped the steering wheel. Rain began to fall, and lightening danced across the sky. I started to turn into a store parking lot, but I was so close to home and decided to stay on course.

I drove a little ways and then stopped at a red light. The trees began to sway with fury, and rain pounded my car. “If this light would just turn green now, I’d be able to make it home!” I yelled.

The light turned green and moments later as I was turning into my driveway, the wind picked up speed and blew sheets and sheets of rain. I had just made it.

When I was safely inside, I texted one of my friends, telling her of my ordeal. “At least there are no tornadoes,” she said.

Yes, there were no tornadoes (thank goodness!!). Unfortunately, my imagination ran away with me again and pictured the dark cloud turning into a real life tornado. I can’t seem to stop worrying about severe weather - especially when I’m driving in the middle of it. But it can be difficult to start conjuring up positive thoughts when the wind is shaking your car violently and the sky looks like it is going to fall on you.

Speaking of tornadoes, I recently visited Universal Studios and did the “Twister” ride. Actually, it’s more of a show than a ride. On a soundstage, they show how it was possible to make the scenes from “Twister” look so real. (On a side note, is it ironic that one of my favorite movies actually is “Twister”? I won’t watch it during tornado season, though.) Anyway, one of my friends had seen the “Twister” attraction before and joked that it may be therapeutic for me. After this most recent incident, I’m guessing that it was not therapeutic and I still need to find ways to stay calm during severe weather. Any ideas?

Just My Imagination?

You would think that having an active imagination would benefit a writer such as myself. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always benefit me. In fact, it sometimes hurts me.

When something goes wrong (or at least seems like it could go wrong), my mind goes into overdrive with so many questions. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if that person really meant this? What if this person really meant that? What is this person really thinking of me now? How will this affect my future?

Usually I come up with scenarios that you would find in Academy Award-winning films or disaster movies - depending on the situation, of course. For example, I recently hit my head on a shelf as I was standing up. The moment it happened, I began worrying that something was wrong. What if there was swelling underneath the skin? What if hitting my head had caused a concussion? What if the symptoms were delayed and then I didn’t find out until it was too late that something was wrong? What if...Okay. You get the idea.

The power of suggestion can cause much stress for worriers. Hearing just one word or feeling just one ache can create a string of possibilities and cause one’s imagination to run away with itself. This recently happened to a friend of mine. Her leg had been hurting for a while, and she began to worry about what it could be. As she was talking to me about it, her other leg began to hurt and then seconds later ceased hurting.

Obviously, the mind is very powerful and can trick you into thinking that something is wrong. I can be totally fine and not worrying about anything for most of the day, but then I’ll hear a disturbing news story or someone will ask me if I knew that, say, you can get staph infects in workout rooms. Hearing such news or random facts - that’s when my imagination begins to conjure up scary scenarios and I begin to worry.

A statue in William Shakespeare's hometown.

What’s the solution then? Turn off the TV and Internet and sit around in denial? No, denial’s probably not very healthy either. If a worrywart’s mind can be easily persuaded that there is something to worry about, maybe what I need to do is distract my mind before it lets my imagination run away from me. The next time something makes me worry, I should put on a romantic comedy or become immersed in a good book. If I’m out and about and not able to do these things, maybe I could carry a list of things that I’ve worried about but never happened.

Until then, here’s a quote by William Shakespeare that I find somewhat comforting: “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.”

Letting Things Go

The tennis ball flew up in the air and then gradually fell towards me. If I hit the ball just right, it would be an easy put away at the net. I knew I could do it. I just knew it!

“I got it!” I yelled to my tennis partner.

Before I knew it, I had hit the ball. In the net. “Ugh!” I shrieked with disgust.

While I hit some pretty amazing shots during my match this past weekend (if I don’t say so myself), I can’t seem to concentrate on the fact that I played well. Instead, I’m too focused on the few shots that I missed that might have cost us the match and not able to let it go.

But isn’t that what many people tend to do at times? Instead of focusing on the good things in life, we dwell on the things that might have cost us something. Like, maybe you got behind an incredibly slow person on the way to work, and that person caused you to be in a bad mood the rest of the day because you were late. Or maybe you sat next to an annoying person in the movie theater and weren’t able to enjoy the film. Maybe you even bought the latest gadget and then found it cheaper somewhere else.

I think my inability to cease dwelling on such things that, in the end, aren’t that important, contributes to my worrying. Yes, I lost a tennis match, and there were some shots that I should have made. So what? It was a beautiful day, and I got some exercise while playing well. I should feel good about that and move on. There’s more to life than a tennis match anyway, right?

Before a match a couple of weeks ago, my tennis partner suggested that we just play our game and not worry about whether we won or lost. Throughout the match, this strategy seemed to be working. I was playing well and having fun and when we lost the match, I walked away without any worries or regrets.

I think I need to start thinking of life as a tennis match. In tennis, if you think too much about how you’re going to hit the ball and where you are going to place it, you tend to mess up. When you stop over thinking and just play your game, though, you win more points.

So maybe if I just stop analyzing everything (Why didn’t I do that? Why did I say that? What does that mean?) and just let things go, my worrying will begin to decrease. Like tennis, this will take some practice...

Copyright © 2011

Learning When Not To Worry

Concentrate on what you’re going to eat for your next meal.

Believe it or not, but this recent advice may just help to reduce the frequent worrying in my life. How, you ask? Well, instead of worrying about big things such as tornadoes, earthquakes, blood clots, etc., I should concentrate on insignificant things. Here are a few examples of questions I should ponder more often: What should I eat for dinner? Should I really buy those cute pair of shoes? Will “The Office” be good without Michael Scott?

I know it may sound silly to concentrate on unimportant issues in life, but if I focus my attention on smaller day-to-day happenings, the bigger ones that shouldn’t even be on my radar in the first place - unless it is in fact a tornado - may fade into the background. And fewer bigger worries equals less stress.

Since I was given this advice a few days ago, I’ve been trying to practice it. Surprisingly, it seemed to be working - until today. After working out this morning, my lower back began hurting. Did I think it was caused by carrying a heavy load of groceries yesterday? Or that I might have pulled something while working out? Of course not! If you have lower back pain, it must mean you have kidney problems!

Then, I remembered my new technique: think about insignificant issues. It’s difficult, though, trying to think of something else when there is pain telling your mind that, yes, there is something wrong.

While my back is still hurting (it hurts only when I move, which I find a little comforting because it is probably a pulled muscle), I have something else to worry about now. The threat of tornadoes. As I sit here writing this, a line of storms is moving this way. I know I said I would try to watch my stress levels more than the radar, but it’s so difficult not to watch where the red and yellow clumps are heading. Better safe than sorry, right?

That said, I actually feel quit calm right now despite the pending doom, I mean, storms. I have a book I can read to keep my mind on other things. I’m also trying to win a game of Words With Friends. And, of course, I have my husband, who knows how to make me laugh.

Now, what should my husband and I eat for dinner tomorrow?












                                                               Copyright © 2011

Shake, Rattle, and...Worry

I was in a deep sleep when my bed began to shake. When I awoke, my first thought was, “Who is jumping on my bed?”

My eyes traveled to the end of the bed. No one was there. Could it be a ghost, I wondered.

I placed my hand on the bed to stop it from shaking, but the effort was useless. That’s when I fully awoke and realized that I was in an earthquake.

While Atlanta is on a fault line, this was the first earthquake I had ever experienced. I’ve been to California, where I worried about being in possible earthquakes, but turns out I felt my first earthquake in my home state. Ironic, huh?

Not surprisingly, the earthquake caused me to worry, especially since it was considered a moderate quake, rating 4.9 on the Richter Scale.

I began worrying about earthquakes way before the one that occurred here in 2003, though. And I’ve started to worry about them again after the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. I’ve been worried about all of the people in Japan, and they are in my thoughts and prayers every day.

Of course, the natural disasters in Japan have led to more worries about earthquakes happening here. I worry about the devastation that they could cause and being trapped because of one. I know Georgia hasn’t seen big earthquakes for 100 to 200 years, but the earth is alive and always evolving. You can’t be too sure about anything these days, and that is very worrisome for a worrywart like myself. The more I dwell on the things that could happen, the more worried and stressed I become. The earth is something we cannot control, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Developing a positive mindset and letting go of the things I can’t control is definitely something I can control, though. Now, if only I could learn how to do that. Any ideas?

Copyright © 2011

No Worries...Right?

I had just returned from the gym yesterday morning when an idea hit me. I’m not going to worry about anything today, I thought.

Maybe it was the endorphins talking after the intense workout, but nevertheless, I thought it was an excellent idea. Could I not worry for an entire day? Really? Me?

For the past two days I felt anxious, like I had to worry about something. I’m not sure why I felt that way, but it began to tire me. For just one day I wanted to know what it felt like not to worry about anything. So I got ready for the day and with a spring in my step, headed to work.

Not long after my departure from home, I found myself behind a slow car. Don’t get upset, I told myself. Everything will be fine, and you will get to work on time.

The car soon turned, and finally I was able to go the speed limit. See, I told myself, that wasn’t so bad.

Once at work, I poured a cup of coffee (a drink I never cared for until I started regularly working out in the mornings). Not long afterwards, I began to feel jittery and wondered if the coffee could be affecting my heart negatively. The day before I had read an article on Yahoo! about how coffee can be good for you, so I fought to push all of the negative thoughts aside.

Later in the afternoon, I felt a tingling sensation on my head. That’s nothing, I thought.

Then, it happened again. It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it, I told myself.

But then it happened yet again, and I couldn’t Google the symptoms fast enough. The search found so many things it could have been, but in the end, I think the tingling was caused by a pinched nerve in my neck.

So I failed at my first attempt not to worry all day long. It was an ambitious challenge for a chronic worrier such as myself, but I shouldn’t worry about my failed attempt. For the first time in my life, I made the effort to eliminate useless worrying, and I should feel good about that.

Copyright © 2011

Worries In The Forecast

The glass doors slid open, and I stepped outside cautiously. It was raining, but the sky was lighter than it had been thirty minutes earlier. A jolt of relief ran through my body, and I took a deep breath. The threat of a tornado had passed, and it was safe to walk to my car.

Or so I thought.

A rumble of thunder rolled across the clouds, and I darted across the parking lot. Just as I lifted the remote to unlock my car, a flash of lightening flooded the sky. I began to run faster and tried to shut my umbrella, which is old and would not close easily. When I arrived at my car, I shoved the opened umbrella inside and quickly followed it.

I had made it. I was safe, but still shaking. What if I had gotten struck by lightening? Right before I had ventured out into the dying storm, a fellow worrywart told me she knows someone who got struck by lightening once, and the only thing that saved her were her rain boots. Of course, that’s all I could think of as I ran to the car last week.

So now that winter is nearing its end, I no longer have to worry about icy roads. Isn’t that great? Instead, I have tornadoes and severe weather to worry about for the next several months.

Why do I worry about the weather - whether it’s snow or ice or tornadoes - so much? Maybe because it’s something I can’t control. I know many people say not to worry about something if it’s out of your control, but that’s when I seem to worry about things the most - when they are out of my control. I think that’s why I worry about blood clots so much; even though regular exercise and staying active can help to prevent them, sometimes not much can stop the formation of the clots.

I know it’s not healthy to worry about things you can’t control; it’s extra stress on your heart, which can cause even more problems. Therefore, before we have another tornado watch, I am going to plan for a different type of tornado preparedness: cognitive reframing. According to About.com, this is one of the techniques used to help people who have a fear of tornadoes or severe storms developing into tornadoes. Cognitive reframing is as simple as learning to stop negative thoughts and replacing them with more positive ones. This is something I know I should do all the time, not just during tornado season. However, since the chance of seeing a tornado is relatively low (I’ve been close to tornado paths, but haven’t been in one), this spring seems like a good time to start practicing this technique.

So next time there is a tornado watch, I’ll try to watch my stress levels more than the radar.

Copyright © 2011