Pain works on a sliding scale. So does pleasure, in a candy jail.

Toe,
Its a beautiful day here in the Prairie State, and I am inside finishing up my story. It's a first draft, so I am going to let it sit until tonight, then reread and revise. We have until tomorrow, right?

I hear what you are saying about worry. I try not to worry, but I usually go through periods where I ruminate, waking up at 4:30 in the morning thinking about stuff. Usually it has something to do with my job, thoughts about me getting in trouble for not doing something, or for not doing something well.

Lately, when I worry about work, or even about world events, I think about previous bouts of worry and how things eventually worked out. This seems to help me put things in perspective. I wonder if this is why some older people seem to get less stressed about things. I remember back around 9-11 there was some news show about people being stressed out or traumatized by the events, and how elderly people seemed to be less stressed by the attacks than young adults. The speculation was that they had seen things like this before, and knew from experience that we could get through any tough times.

So, I try to keep some perspective. It works sometimes. Sometimes not.

I hope you are doing better and enjoying a weekend without much worry. I look forward to your story. Send it to me by email when you have it, and I'll do the same.

Love,
E-Word