Anyone else feeling scared?

[zippy539]

Gawd- don't know how to start this really, but the last few weeks I just feel I am in a state of constant bloody anxiety. I'm worried about terrorist attacks, bird flu, ... blah blah blah. Everything I read seems to point to imminent disaster!

Is this because

A) I am the mother of two young children and so am naturally on heightened alert for anything that might harm them?

B) I am completely neurotic????

C) I am totally right to be concerned about the state of the world today?

Please tell me it is B.

Does anyone else feel the same or do you manage to shrug it all off and convince yourself that your family will be fine, come what may?

Think it's A, B and C.

And I worry too. Then I forget. I'm quite dopey though. Someone clever will be along shortly, I'm sure.

Went a bit nuts with the tube attacks. Other than that I usually let things like this wash over me, it's only when it's close to home I start to panic (ie the bombings being on my route to work) Bird flu hasn't worried me in the slightest yet, not near enough to get upset about yet IMO.

I'm scared of bird flu and terrorist attacks too, Zippy. Sure I worry much more these days as am a mother now. But who knows what's round the corner - best to not speculate and live for the day. Easier said than done though.

Quite right to panic. I agree thought that I worry more when it is on the doorstep. Rory Blackwood for excample was right on my doorstep and I really paniced. Normally I would have let DD1 go up the aisle in the shop and get milk etc but wouldnt even let her do that. Poor child!! It is a worry living in our world today. Listen to me all grown up and old sounding. Cool!

yep to worried about bird flu - even though I castigate myself for being daft and taken in by scaremongering stories in the paper.
terrorist attacks - nope, not really worried about those, the risk to an individual is tiny and I'm not an obvious target (ie don't work for any building likely to be bombed etc)
worried about recession round the corner

I can understand, i too fear for the children. I might sound a alot neurotic but i do wonder what lies in front of them.

I worry alot too, so much so that I wonder if I maybe shouldn't have had kids because if I live that long I'll be worrying about their kids too.

Also worry about dh and db, that they get home safely from work.

I actually worry more about crime though, esp violent crime and break-ins etc and child abductions. Also worry about child abuse, not just my own kids and people trafficking, problems all round the world.

i felt physically sick every time i got on a tube in the month after the july bombings (the front carriage on the piccadilly line where the kings cross bomber was is the one i normally sit in) but i was adamant that i had to conquer this (and bring dd1 into the playscheme next to where i work) and tbh i'm glad i did. a bus can be scary if it's the one that's going to run you over and kill you but that doesn't mean you can't go into town on one.

I think we all worry tenfold more because we have kids.

A good tip is to not watch so much news or read so many papers. I used to read full stops and catch every flippin' bulletin and got myself in a right old dither.

You must remember however, that the media love to whip us up into these frenzies.

I've just come back from the States on holiday and never picked up a paper and didn't watch TV. It was liberating! This has lasted since I've been back and it's great.

A few years ago I was in the Australian Outback and was talking to some locals about how they got their news etc., and in their typical laid back approach they explained anything of real importance will get through, the rest is just tosh!

They were very relaxed people.

Remember we only have one life. We shouldn't spend it worrying about what ifs. We should live it, just taking sensible precautions and avoiding too much media hype. I reckon anyway!!

I understand that things in the news etc are upsetting, but IMO we must live our lives, and dont let things get us down.
God hope I dont sound like tony blair..!

Read this morning that 60 people died from birdflu in one country - this doesn't alarm me though - how many folk die from flu each winter anyway? Terrorists - nope!

Kids being knocked down by a car - yes
General downturn of society (IMHO) - yes

I worry about stuff now I am a mother, definitely makes a difference.

I have times when I feel more scared than others. For example, I work in the City but today was the first time I got on a bus since 7 July (running late, rain etc). I thought to myself that I was being ridiculous so I got on the bus!

I don't watch the news much anymore and I don't buy a paper. I read the news online but am choosy about which bits I read.

I like my world much better than the big wide one out there!

I am Just like you Zippy - i know my approach to coping with it is naive and small worldy - but i dont read the newspapers much and try not to listen to too much news. If i dont read an article that says a meteor is going to hit the earth in ten years then i cant worry about it can i??
I tend to stick to fiction on television and in my reading material - and concertrate on my real life around me that i am in control of

Zippy, I've been thinking the same, feeling a frequent sense of impending doom, feeling like I'm living in a universe that doesn't care a jot about our surivival (which it doesn't). I notice, though, that when smaller, personal stuff are getting to mereally dumb things, even, like when I thought my friend wasn't talking to me because I missed her birthdayI have more of these catastrophic thoughts than when things are moving along smoothly. I guess what I'm saying is that these big thoughts about imminent disaster could be linked to things in your daily life that are making you feel out of control. Which is not to disregard the fact that there are worrying things out there, it's just that they're unlikely to affect you directly.

I am the opposite Medea - i worry about these things when i have got nothing in MY life to worry about!!! the more i fill my life and the busier i am - the less i worry!

Good for you KB. Facing your fears (being sensible with it too of course) is a brill way to handle things.

After a lifetime of travelling, I developed a fear of flying when I became a mum. I would wake in a sweat just thinking about going on a plane.

After 7 years (i'm a great believer in everything having a 7 year cycle), I went back to my old way of thinking of 'Life's too short, only one crack at it, live for the day etc. and booked a short haul flight.

For weeks before I would have mini-seizures thinking about the flight. I would run through the scenarious - hijacks, crashes, landing in the ocean, sharks, . Oh I had a contingency plan and a panic attack for each scenario.

I got on that bloody plane though and felt so proud of myself. That was last year.

This year I booked to travel to Florida and went on Sept 11th. Can you imagine how I felt! Again, I got on the damn thing and as soon as I was on it I asked myself 'why was I worrying'?

Very often the fear is greater than the risk.

Message withdrawn

Carpe diem, people! Try putting a positive spin on your fears

Everytime I feel really exhausted or stressed or tired, I try to keep close the knowledge that nothing in life is guaranteed. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

With a little practice, strangely enough, just the reminder of this is enough to give me just that little jolt of energy that whatever niggly wee thing that was bothering me fades away - or at least doesn't seem as bothersome.

When you live every day taking nothing for granted, it's tiring, you go to bed ready for sleep and in a much better frame of mind - b/c you know you lived that day to the fullest.

It won't happen to me.

I just shrug it off. Perhaps I'm stupid, but I haven't the energy to worry about anything more than I've got on my plate atm.