Its Scary

All of this news about the economy is frightening. Everything seems to be going all to hell in a handbasket. There are gas shortages everywhere. Rumors are spreading that the next bank to go down in flames is Wachovia....??? Its so scary. Everytime I sit here and watch the news, I find myself getting tense, like really stressed out. My husband keeps telling me that we are going to be fine. We've taken steps to weather some economic upheaval, and we will be ok. I keep finding myself doing some online research as to ways to prepare. Financial tips....anything that would make me feel more secure. I stumbled onto one website expecting sound investment advice and what I got was a check list of things like:

1. Stock up on at least a year of non-perishable food items.
2. Learn to garden, so you can feed your family without shopping.

And that scared the Holy Bejeezus out of me. Whether or not we are secure enough to make it through a recession/depression does absolutely NOTHING for the rest of the world going down the crapper. It doesn't protect us from people going insane and shooting each other for a gallon of gas. And gardening....is NOT my thing. I love the idea of it. I don't even have a problem getting a little down and dirty planting it. But once it gets hot and humid outside....that stuff is going to rot on the vine before I sweat out there picking it. Plus the fact that there are probably insects and snakes and other unwelcomed visitors prowling all around outside in the summertime.

And that stocking up on a year's supply of food???? Where the heck am I supposed to put that?
In my bomb shelter conveniently located in my imagination? Christ.

Actually, the bottom line is this: its out of my control so there is no point in wasting time worrying myself sick about it. I just have to keep reminding myself of that fact. We've done the best we could to be reasonably protected, and the rest is in the hands of the powers that be. What I really need to do (besides reading up on gardening and bomb shelter building) is to take a break from the news. Go on a negativity-fast. And I will......after the debate tonight. I really do want to hear/see what happens with that. My instincts tell me it will all be a bunch of blabbering political spin. But I can't seem to tear myself away.