Tunnel.

Enough kvetching! I hereby declare 2016 to be the year we see the light, or at least the light at the end of the tunnel! 

I'm sure it's there.

I never quite believed anyone who says they didn't worry about the future, or at least for a long time I didn't believe such a thing was possible. I think it's a lot more rare than your affirmation-posting pals on Facebook would like you to think it is. I come from a long line of worriers; it is the way of my people. If we were not worried about immediate crises -- bills, stupid family members, hangnails, school tests, medical tests, etc. -- we could worry about the shadow of death that hangs over each of us. If that was not enough, we could worry about nuclear war, the next ice age, meteors, or just God choosing to roll up the carpet and call it a day while we were in the middle of doing the worst sin of our lives. There was always something to fret about.

I truly believe that more than 90 percent of the people who tell you they never worry are full of crap. Worry is a basic human reaction, a means of trying to control the uncontrollable. I don't say these people are lying to you, but they may be lying to themselves. The effort of keeping worry at bay has always worn me out; it was easier just to worry.

People whom I have met who really do seem to have licked the worry problem are both mentally and emotionally better balanced than I am, and generally have a much stronger faith in a higher power. I think I can count those people on one hand. I don't include people who don't fear the future because they have just given up on life; catatonia or suicidal ideation are poor cures for worry, if indeed they can be considered as such.

I don't think declarations or slogans are going to really turn my personality around at this stage. Any recommendations?