In normal times, I have anxiety; I’m an expert on worrying about the future, ruminating about the “what ifs?’ and worst-case scenarios. The “Coronavirus Symptoms Checklist” is on my desk. While I’ve never been obsessive about germs or washing hands, now I question everything I touch — handling mail, swiping my credit card, or going shopping becomes fraught with danger. (Please don’t get me started on the gentleman who was coughing behind me at the grocery store a few days ago.) I won’t list who I’m worried about because honestly, it’s every single person on the planet.

We are all overloaded with the news and “what if?” scenarios. Here’s an article for when you start to crawl into those dark recesses of your mind and your anxiety kicks into gear. Turns out, instead of pushing anxiety away, we should just embrace it, according to Laura Turner in “This is a Good Time to Stop Fighting Anxiety” from The New York Times.

“. . . Accepting our anxiety doesn’t mean that its focus isn’t valid — there is plenty to be worried about personally, politically and globally right now. But it does mean that we don’t want anxiety to be our solution to these problems. Instead, we want to remain as calm as we can so that we are able to engage our rational brains. We want to save our energy for focusing on the important issues in our lives, rather than using our energy on mentally spinning out for hours on end.” Read the article . . .

Stay safe and sane everyone!