How to Win at the Worrying Game

I sometimes think that I was born with a worry gene. Truly, I cannot remember my Pre-Worry Days. I do, however, have pitiful recollections of fretting about:

• whether I'd win the spelling bee in third grade (I did win...but then as I walked home from school, toting the box of candy turtles that was my prize, I worried that my health-obsessed parents would take away those blissfully bad for you candied-pecan-caramel chocolates and offer me something like rubbery carrot strips)
• if a boy would ask me to dance at my sixth grade graduation party (a few of them did...but I stressed so much over whether it was my hands or their hands that were so cold and clammy and sweaty that I felt sick and had to call my mother to pick me up early)
• when to switch from knee socks to nylons (a moot point: my mother made the decision for me, but I still worried)
• which college to attend and, once decided, whether I'd get into my first choice...or second choice...and what if I didn't get into any of them (I was accepted at my first choice, UCLA, but on the same day that I received my acceptance letter, I started to worry about my grades).

And so it goes. Year after year of worries: college, jobs, friends, romances, dentist appointments, car break-downs, roommates, apartments, even pets (was that a lump on Fido's neck...oops, no, it was a wad of gum he had picked up in his travels around town).

What I've acquired as a result of my worry-wart habits:

• frown lines
• gray hairs
• high blood pressure
• nibbled-on fingernails
• ice cream addiction (although lately, I've become sort of embarrassingly obsessed with European frozen yogurt)

Recently, I decided to stop worrying about worrying so much - and start focusing on what I call Un-Worrying. My Un-Worry Secrets:

• Declaring certain issues an NMP (Not My Problem) - in other words, recognizing that fretting about anything that I absolutely could not control did nothing...except add to my crop of grey hairs and frown lines
• Turning my attention to something productive (scrubbing the kitchen floor may not be exciting...but it's a great way to kick away your worries AND get a cleaner house)
• Looking for something positive to do for somebody else (giving a long-delayed compliment to a colleague about her new hair cut, for example)
• Working it out (literally!): exercise produces endorphins, which lift your spirits. Put on some invigorating music and boogie away those blues!
• If you can afford it: a massage....in lieu of that, a long hot bubble bath and a good book definitely help...with frozen yogurt as your before-bed snack.
• Spending five minutes a day scribbling in your Worry Journal-and then tucking it away and letting it go.

And now, if you'll excuse me: I'm off to purchase this worry-free woman's hair coloring kit (I'm thinking about fire-engine red!).