Okay, okay, I admit it, I made a mistake. Last Thursday, I signed up to a new phone contract which seemed to me to be good at the time. Two hours later, my husband found a better deal at a much lower price. As there is always a fourteen-day cooling off period, I tried, on Friday, to cancel my original contract.

Big sigh. It’s always much easier to sign up to these things than it is to cancel them, isn't it? I spent one and a half hours on the phone with them. The first operator I got through to, after waiting twenty minutes, cut me off. I hope it was unintentional. The second operator I got through to, after waiting twenty minutes, gave me instructions which didn’t work. The third operator I got through to, after waiting twenty minutes, was good enough to talk me through the web-accessed form. My contract, she said, would now revert to my old one, and there would be no charge for leaving the company. Email confirmation would be with me within 72 hours. Today, more than 72 hours later, without getting my email, I logged on to find that my account still has the new contract, not the old. It seems I must start the whole process again. It’s a horrible feeling, not knowing if I’m in or out of this contract. If I leave the company without cancelling, then they charge me nearly £300.

This reflects, in a very small way, the anxiety I felt when we were selling my Father-in-law’s house a couple of years ago. He was, we thought, on the brink of death, having had two recent heart attacks at the age of 94. If he had died before the contract was signed, then the sale could not have gone through until probate was agreed, which would have delayed things for another eighteen months. In fact, he not only survived until the contract was signed, but amazingly, for another fifteen months afterwards.

I don’t know about you, but anxiety lodges in my throat and shoulders. It makes me jittery and snappy with my family. My daughter, who had her first lot of accountancy exams this morning, finds that anxiety makes her physically sick.

We cannot escape some anxiety. There is always uncertainty in life. We just have to find ways of dealing with it. I’m not very good at that.

I think that different people get anxious about different things: exams; public speaking; social events; travel; confrontation; work meetings; all sorts of things.

I have a friend who recommends EFT – or “tapping” as a way of calming down. When I remember to do that, it works to a certain extent. Another friend tells me to take deep breaths and ground myself. Other advice is to become mindful and notice everything around as a means of distracting yourself from the anxious thoughts that run around your mind like squirrels in a cage.

What do you get anxious about, and how do you deal with it?

Mary

A Moodscope member