Well, I did worry about my job for the past couple of years. I was let go a few weeks ago. I've always worried about money. We had been doing pretty well. Now it's a huge adjustment. We have no children, luckily no huge debt and some savings. But unemployment hasn't come through yet and it's been a few weeks. It doesn't help a natural born worrier. It puts a strain on a relationship. I'm very fearful, angry. I already suffer from depression and anxiety, so it adds to the situation. But I have to stay strong and tell myself that in time everything will be all right whether I believe it now or not.

I worry when my plans are kind of up in the air then I just try to keep myself calm by thinking everything will work out

I worry when some one is mad at me. Then I breath and realize that I can't change how people feel about me, just how I feel about myself.

I worry about health and financial security, now that I'm getting older. I calm down by walking each morning. It's the best part of my day.

My entire family from sons, their wives, the grand-children and now one great grand-child have just abandoned me. They never call, come and see me and I just live a few miles away from them. I have done everything from praying about the situation to trying to talk with them in a loving way.

My biggest worry was flying. I decided, after an 8 week anxiety-management class, that I would fly and let the pilot worry about flying. That's his job and he's paid the big bucks to do it. It worked!

My grandmother (who was a wise but tough Southern lady) always told me: 99% of the things you worry about never happen. The 1% that do, worry doesn't change them."

I worry about my children's safety and major decistions. To calm down I pray and I talk to my husband who can approach a stressful situation in a very analytical, emotion-free manner.

I have no retirement fund and there never seems to be enough money to start one...not to mention it's way, way too late. My biggest fear? That I'll end up living under a bridge in a cardboard box! Literally. This has been the cause of many a panic attack. But now when that thought passes through my mind, I let that it just go right back out as if on a passing summer breeze. I think, "So what if that does happen? Is that really the absolute worst thing? Others survive it...so can I if it comes to that!" Then I stop living in fear and spend my energy enjoying all the good in my life right now. I also try to think of alternative ways to live in my old age without a healthy retirement fund and encourage an innate belief that everything will be okay. Because it will!

I read a "Personal Commandments" that I found in a newspaper column. It was written by the author Elodie Armstrong who lived into her nineties. She wrote them after discovering she had multiple sclerosis at age 50.

1. Thou shalt not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of human activities.
2. Thou shalt not fear, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.
3. Thou shalt not cross bridges before you get to them, for no one yet has succeeded in accomplishing this.
4. Thou shalt face each problem as it comes. You can only handle one at a time anyway.
5. Thou shalt not take problems to bed with you, for they make very poor bedfellows.
6. Thou shalt count thy blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to a big one.
7. Thou shalt be a good listener, for only when you learn to listen do you hear ideas different than your own. It's very hard to learn something new when you're talking.
8. Thou shalt not become bogged down by frustration, for 90% is rooted in self-pity, and it will only interfere with positive action.

Elizabeth Holden
8of9@cox.net