on being a plonker
My car started making a worrying noise on Saturday, so I booked it in with a garage (one of the rare ones open at the weekend) to get it looked at. They couldn't fit me in til Wednesday. This is the first garage I've used since moving to a new town, previously I was a regular at a garage on my way to work. This new town garage was a 40 minute walk away from home.
Then my internet connection went down on Monday evening. Tuesday morning it was still down. I booked the day off with my work (I work from home) and got the ball rolling with my ISP to get the fault sorted. They arranged an engineer to visit the property on Thursday.
I went to bed Tuesday night and didn't sleep; my mind racing with "what if"s. What if I can't find the garage? What if the car breaks down on the way there? What if the car is unrepairable? What if the broadband stays down for weeks? What if I can't get into the office to do my work? What if what if what if.
Wednesday morning I made a list of why I was feeling so incredibly stressed. Then I wrote down a positive rebuffal to every point I had made. By the time I had finished I was feeling less stressed and a bit more prepared.
As it was, the car needed £30 of repairs and the broadband had come back independently of an engineer's visit whilst I was collecting the car.
My mum was a worrier. She would win back to back gold medals at the Worrying Olympics. I think that has been passed down to me and I need to get a handle on it. As I'm getting older I feel more stressed about new, unexpected things and it's not good.
So, making lists is great and the worrying gene passed down from my mum can be controlled with a bit of effort.