I think I worry too much about my family, but don't know how to stop.

Trust me to decide to join in so late,but I just wanted to add that I come from a long line of worriers.I remember my Mother telling me not to run for a bus as it was bad for me and for years i thought perhaps I had a heart problem,that she was not telling me.I worry about everything and how my husband has stayed with me for 30 years I will never know.My headstone should have the words What If inscribed on it .

Worrier sounds rather like warrior!

ok right! well I am off to the D.I.Y store tomorrow....and!! I am going to buy a shelf (not sure what size yet)? and when I get home I am going to put it up somewhere, sort of out of the way but easy to get to!! then!!!!!! I am going start to put all!!!!!!!!!! my worries on the shelf ! one by one ! ( I may be gone for some time)
Soooo if anyone else would like me to pick I shelf up for them, and we will call it the "worry shelf" !

My own mother was a worrier too! I was only allowed one roller skate at a time in case I fell over......!

maryl; I've just remembered that we didn't have a holiday for years because we couldn't afford one, and then my mum and dad took me to stay in a caravan in Evesham [not the most exciting place to have a holiday] and I was convinced I was having a holiday because I was seriously ill but they didn't want to tell me. My mum was the youngest of a very large Edwardian family [possibly Victorian even], and she had me quite late in life [for those times anyway]. I have postcards from relatives on holiday where they always put 'see you next week,God willing' and things like that. It was a very precarious time..infant mortality, dying in childbirth etc; difficult not to find something to constantly worry about.

I think it is a shame how you can be influenced by things said and seen during childhood.I know this is a root of my problems and I tried SO hard not to pass my anxiety's on to my sons,but unfortunately my youngest (30 ) is also a worrier,but only about his health.

Not long ago my son set off up the M1 back to his house; the S.O. just arrived home to tell me that there has ben a very bad accident on the motorway between the junctions that he was travelling on. Spent a few scary seconds [seemed like minutes] waiting for him to call me back after I phoned him. Got the lurching stomach and wobbly legs now!

crimson I know the feeling...

i know I am on record here as saying I'm not a worrier, but my son was working in London at the time of the 7/7 bombs and I knew that at least one of them was on the route from Paddington to his office. The mobile networks were jammed and it was a scary hour or so until I heard from his partner that he had been in touch - that day he had an early meeting, so was in the office before the bombs were detonated. So, Crimson, I also know the feeling.

I think most of us know that feeling, even the non-worriers among us! Just to be picky (I'm good at that ), I don't think that's the kind of worrying people were talking about. It's still worry, or natural anxiety, but it has a short life and is over and done with once the required information about someone's safety, or whatever it was that sparked the worry, reaches us. A number of people on this thread seem to have worries that, sadly, never leave them, whatever they do.

Yes, bags, it was more terror than worry. That's what terrorism is all about.

Think the trouble is that, when I go through a 'relaxed phase' something like that happens to create an ongoing unease.

Our motto should be "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" . Get the stonemasons to carve it over the ancestral door.
But seriously - there is not much on this thread about how to stop worrying and give yourself a break. Worry shelf "biker" I like it.
I also like the image of a river and throwing things in and letting them float away. Goes well with relaxation practice. My favourite imaginary river is one with warm water and black swans that I saw once in NZ. I have it linked in my mind to Pachbel's Canon. Happy black swans, floating away down the warm stream....

Glass of sherry seems to have done the trick .

My DH was in London on 7/7 Annobel he should have been on the underground when the bomb went off but a colleague was late and they missed it. I think he must have a guardian angel because he was supposed to be in Mumbai when the terrorist attack took place, he was booked into the Taj hotel but sent someone in his place. I actually did not hear about the London bombs until it was all over but was puzzled because there was no service to his mobile phone and I was trying to reach him regarding an important hospital appointment.

JessM - like you say, there's no real answer! Just plod on and hope for the best? Probably! (biker's shelf may need good, strong brackets on it!)

I read once that it's no good worrying, because the thing that you worry about will probably not happen and, if anything bad does happen it will most likely be something that you hadn't even thought about. However, I'm not sure if that is a help or whether it makes me worry ad infinitum!

crimson, nothing will change us, I don't think. I don't want to actually change, I just want to stop getting that feeling of impending doom....you know the one?

Yes it is not a nice feeling - but also slightly addictive perhaps.
Definitely not good for you as it involved a surge of stress hormones every time.
But learning to not do it any more does require a spot of change doesn't it. It is not changing your personality, it is changing your thought habits I guess.

This thread has helped me a lot, I think, JessM. This weekend, instead of getting on my mobile, texting and waiting in vain for an answer (and starting to worry) I waited and text came through anyway. It's all to do with what's happened in the past and it's so hard to shake off. Really, that's why I started the thread......I'm so grateful for all the posts - they've given me so much comfort and insight.

That is fantastic green - well done. Have a on me.

Well I would, but it's the weigh-in tomorrow...

After worrying all year about my son,(type 1 diabetic and slowly losing his sight) he has just had steroid implants in both eyes, and the hospital say his sight has vastly improved in just 2 weeks!! He now has a test for DVLA which his optician says he has nothing to worry about!
I was so worried that he may lose his driving licence as his wife has just had a baby(his first). How relieved am I? Phew.

That's great news, nanachrissy.

Oh - nanachrissy, what great news! What a weight off your mind! Really pleased for you. (And your son and his little family too)