The ABC's of Insecurity

So.  Here goes. My very first post as a rookie blogger. And this post, like life, is one part serious and one part silly... We humans are insecure creatures. To pretend otherwise is foolish. And yet that is exactly what we do. Everyday. We pretend that we have it all together. We wake up and get dressed and go outside and smile. What lingers behind those well-practiced smiles? The ABC's of insecurity.

Anxiety. About everything. Including being anxious. "Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." Soren Kierkegaard

Boredom. Admit it: if you weren't a bit bored, you wouldn't be reading this now. "Boredom: the desire for desires." Tolstoy

Control. The one thing none of us has. "If everything seems under your control, you're just not going fast enough." Mario Andretti

Doubt. We make decisions. And then we doubt them. "I doubt, therefore I think. I think therefore I am." Descartes

Expectations. Great Ones. Good book and story of our lives. "High expectations are the key to everything." Sam Walton.

Fear. Of terrorism. Failure. Disease. Death. Infidelity. Mediocrity. Of being fat. "Always do what you are afraid to do." Emerson

Grief. Over losing a parent. Or a spouse. Or a child. Or a friend. Or a pet. Or a job. Or ourselves. "Given a choice between grief and nothing, I'd choose grief." Faulkner

Health. Vaginal or C-section? To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Breast or bottle? Implants or let 'em hang? "It is health that is real wealth, not pieces of gold and silver." Gandhi

Indecision. About everything. I can't even decide what things to mention. "Indecision may or may not be my problem." Jimmy Buffett

Jealousy. Is your husband thinking of straying? Does your child love the nanny more than you? "To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self." Joan Didion

Knowledge. I don't care where you went to college, how big your salary is, how smart you are. About the most important things in life, we are all ignorant. "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." Confucius

Loneliness. How is it that we can't find five minutes for ourselves and yet we still have moments where we feel utterly alone? "Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better." Henry Rollins.

Mortality. We grow up. And children are born. And parents die. And we can't help but contemplate our own exit. "If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it is to die over and over again." Abraham Lincoln

Negativity. Another thing I'm positive we all experience. "All negativity is an illusion created by the limited mind to protect and defend itself." Ambika Wauters

Obligation. To our family. To our friends. To our society. To our favorite Idol contestant. To ourselves. "Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." Eleanor Roosevelt

Pessimism. I have been experimenting with a new drug: optimism. I don't think it is working very well. "A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties." Harry Truman

Questions. The one thing each of us has in abundance. "Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers." Voltaire

Regrets. Tell me you have no regrets and I will call you a liar. "For the majority of us, the past is a regret, the future an experiment." Mark Twain

Self. The biggest, baddest roadblock of them all. "Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul." Henry Van Dyke

Time. No, there aren't enough hours in the day, but there are twenty-four. Make the most of them and stop bitching. "Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back." Harvey MacKay

Uncertainty. Certainty is a myth, a silly old fairy tale we want desperately to believe. "Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security." John Allen Paulos

Voice. We tell our tots to "use their words," but how often do we insist on using ours? "There is a voice inside of you/ that whispers all day long,/"I feel that this is right for me,/I know that this is wrong."/No teacher, preacher, parent friend/or wise man can decide/What's right for you -- Just listen to/the voice that speaks inside." Shel Silverstein

Worry. All of us worry. Period. "Worrying is like a rocking chair -- it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere." Erma Bombeck

Xanax. I have absolutely nothing against prescription drugs. Plenty of people I know swear by 'em. "At what point should I try Xanax?" Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Youth. Some of us don't have much interest in growing up. For example, those of us who are thirty and, let's say, don't have a driver's license. So what if we want to stay kids even when we have kids? So what if we want to pretend that we are still in college and yet are open to the idea of Botox? "You're never too old to become younger." Mae West

Zoloft. Let me repeat for the record: I have nothing against prescription drugs. Again, plenty of people I know swear by 'em. Rumor has it it helps with insecurities A-Y. "Is Zoloft better than Xanax? If so, where can I get me some?" Aidan Donnelley Rowley