“White Girl Worries”

I worry about appearing frivolous or insensitive to my blog readers, especially those with real problems.  A friend, whose daughter has cystic fibrosis, once told me, “When they find a cure for CF, I’ll worry about world peace.”  Another friend calls the things I worry about “white girl worries.”

Seven years ago a 200-year-old poplar tree fell on my house, causing damage that took a year to repair.  I said to my psychotherapist, “How can I complain, given that we’re safe, while our family friends just lost their son in a car crash?”  He responded with the shrink party line, “You’re entitled to your worries.”  Entitled?  Perhaps.  But who can deny that there is a hierarchy of worry-worthiness?

I can’t recall a time that I did not think like a worrywart.  As Queen Isabella in the third grade play, the only way I could keep from giggling was to picture my mother dead, something I worried about a lot (she’s now 91).  So when I attended a lecture by positive psychologist and author of Happier, Tal Ben-Shahar, otherwise known as the Harvard Happiness Professor, I asked whether people like me are wired to worry.  “Yes,” he answered, with no hint of optimism that my brain can be rewired.

Which brings me back to my blog.  During my plump years of young motherhood, I wrote a diet tips article (never published) and in the process lost 12 pounds.  Now, by examining the imagined fearsome scenarios that pop into my head, maybe I can shed some worry weight, as well as provide commiseration for fellow worrywarts. Others who read my posts may be inspired to give thanks for being non-worrywarts.

LOTS ABOUT MARRIAGE, RELATIONSHIPS AND MORE IN MY NEW MEMOIR . . .

Confessions of a Worrywart: Husbands, Lovers, Mothers, and Others                                                  Check it out on Amazon.com, Kindle, and Smashwords

“Readers of all ages will relate to this deeply personal story, told with comical sensibility by a quirky, startlingly honest mother, daughter, ex-wife, and dog lover, who—à la Nora Ephron—will feel like a dear friend. Confessions of a Worrywart: Husbands, Lovers, Mothers, and Others will stay with you long after you finish reading it.”

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