Women, and especially moms, often seem programmed from birth with a tiny wrinkle between their eyes, the ability to foresee cataclysmic potentials and the enduring stubbornness to keep it to themselves. Sometimes, we spend night after night, sleepless; sometimes, we just can’t let our child do something that has too many what-if?s attached to it and we become known as the ‘over-protective parent’. Sometimes, our instincts scream at us that something isn’t/won’t be/can’t be right – and we’re powerless to fight the thoughts. We just have to cope.
Moms worry a lot. Our kids could get hurt, sick, lost, left behind, socially cast out, a bad haircut, labelled, bullied, and on and on. Our family could be struck with those things, as well as financial destruction when illness or job loss is experienced. But those are mostly variations of the same themes – genres of worrying classification that are either universal for each family member, or would effect every family member. These main themes are:
- Our Health
- Our Relationships
- Our Finances
- Our Abilities
- Our Careers & Futures
Remember my self-esteem series in December? That was fun, it opened a dialogue up, and it got a lot of positive feedback – both during and still, as women are implementing some of the suggestions I gave. Now, we begin a new series: every week, I’ll cover one of these ‘worrying’ areas: what they’re about, how it makes us react, how it affects the people surrounding us, and some gentle steps we can take to… not sweat so much about the what-ifs.
To get us started, I’d love to know what furrows your brow, and if you think I’ve forgotten anything. I mean, I am a professional worrier, but no one gets it right, all of the time.