Hi Helen,
Thanks for sharing your anxiety thoughts. I struggle with anxiety too - worrying about everything. I like your comment - 'You don't have to believe everything you think.' I'm working on it - especially living in the present moment - but it's a struggle. My doctor wanted me to get a chest/rib x-ray because I often get sore ribs. I mentioned before that I had a female doctor I loved for over 30 years and she handpicked her replacement - a male - who I am getting to know. Interesting - several issues I've been dealing with for years off and on - abdominal pain and rib inflammation - he wants to get to the bottom of it. He said he focuses on 'quality of life' and just 'putting up with it' is not good enough. I am thankful for this approach - touched, actually. Anyhow - in terms of anxiety - I went for an x-ray and I'm totally stressed. She said she took extra pictures and of course I interpreted that as that she saw 'something wrong'. Sheesh. As I walked out, I looked over and saw an x-ray on her screen and thought, "That's mine and it looks bad." So anxiety took hold and ran with it. Later that day, my doctor emailed me to tell my pap smear and x-rays were all normal. So kind of him but wow - all that worrying I did. And he asked me to come in at some point to discuss my 'rib' problem so we can come up with a plan. So anxiety is definitely something I need to work on. Thanks for sharing your own story, Helen - it helps a lot.