{"id":95,"date":"2009-12-31T11:40:52","date_gmt":"2009-12-31T19:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisabravermoss.wordpress.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2022-06-10T16:53:47","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T16:53:47","slug":"with-imposed-worry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/","title":{"rendered":"Imposed Worry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have never believed that everything happens for a reason.\u00a0 But I do feel very strongly that everything happens so that it can be turned into a column.\u201d\u2014Gail Collins, \u201cThe Breast Brouhaha,\u201d November 18, 2009, New York Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Am I a worrier?<\/p>\n

It hardly seems worth asking; my pedigree is impeccable.\u00a0 My forebears worried about pogroms in their respective villages in eastern Europe.\u00a0 My parents?\u00a0 Oy, don\u2019t get me started.<\/p>\n

Textbook case that I am, my litany is lopsided.\u00a0 Death by air travel; a perceived slight from an acquaintance.\u00a0 The health of my near and dear; a concern that I\u2019m going to run out of Kleenex.\u00a0 The passing along of insidious family patterns to the next generation; the comma in the second paragraph of my query letter to that one literary agent in Massachusetts.\u00a0 Car accidents, underachievement, firecrackers, gum disease: I\u2019ve got it all covered.<\/p>\n

So why is it that when I got a notification that my recent screening mammogram didn\u2019t look quite right\u2014could I come back in for another look\u2014I took it in stride?<\/p>\n

Sure, I made the appointment and went for the second mammogram.\u00a0 And I didn\u2019t like what the young radiologist with the dubious bedside manner mumbled:\u00a0 \u201cYou need to come back for a biopsy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t worried\u2014just irritated.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be a doctor<\/em>, I thought.\u00a0 You\u2019re twelve<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Of course I followed up.\u00a0 And I didn\u2019t like what the mature, kind radiologist didn\u2019t<\/em> say, in between her skillful attempts to distract me during the procedure.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t say: \u201cThis tissue looks normal to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I still wasn\u2019t worried\u2014just preoccupied; a needle with the approximate diameter of a parking meter was lodged inside my body.<\/p>\n

Afterwards I was sore, but surprisingly calm.\u00a0 In fact, when my internist called the next afternoon and gave me the good news\u2014It\u2019s Nothing To Worry About!\u2014I was almost confused.<\/p>\n

But I wasn\u2019t worried<\/em>, I nearly said. By the way, are my Vitamin D levels holding steady?<\/em><\/p>\n

At the same time, of course, I was profoundly relieved, and appreciated how promptly he called.\u00a0 My gynecologist, on the other hand, waited five days to contact me.\u00a0 I understood\u2014having seen the pathology report, she obviously Wasn\u2019t Worried\u2014yet she started asking questions.\u00a0 The mass\u2014was it something that had been bothering me?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 It was just a routine mammogram.\u201d\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t that in my chart?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I ask is, even with benign masses, some women worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is benign,\u201d I pointed out helpfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I know.\u00a0 It\u2019s just, some women want them removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d\u00a0 I was still sore and not exactly keen on the idea of unnecessary surgery at the site in question.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know,\u201d she went on.\u00a0 \u201cSome women just get tired of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTired<\/em> of them?\u201d\u00a0 Tired of worrying about them, I suppose.\u00a0 There was no doubt about it now:\u00a0 I was being invited to worry.\u00a0 Where was my innate zeal for anxiety?\u00a0 \u201cBut isn\u2019t this something you\u2019re going to be watching?\u00a0 Like, when I get my next mammogram?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, then\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u00a0 You needn\u2019t worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

And I haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I guess what I\u2019ve learned in all this is that I want to hand-pick my worries.\u00a0 I want ones that are comfortably familiar, yet remote.\u00a0 Irrational is fine, out-of-my-control is fine, because generally I\u2019ll be indulging in private.<\/p>\n

When life conspires to impose worry on me, I resent the presumption.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather meet immediate threats head-on\u2014and with healthy denial\u2014than descend into some clich\u00e9 of hysteria.<\/p>\n

Now, can I go back to wringing my hands about how much my kids are using their cell phones, how I don\u2019t like all that radiation so close to their heads?<\/p>\n

Published in the Piedmont Post<\/em>, December 9, 2009<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have never believed that everything happens for a reason.\u00a0 But I do feel very strongly that everything happens so that it can be turned into a column.\u201d\u2014Gail Collins, \u201cThe Breast Brouhaha,\u201d November 18, 2009, New York Times Am I a worrier? It hardly seems worth asking; my pedigree is impeccable.\u00a0 My forebears worried about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[85,86,87],"yoast_head":"\nImposed Worry - Lisa Braver Moss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Imposed Worry - Lisa Braver Moss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI have never believed that everything happens for a reason.\u00a0 But I do feel very strongly that everything happens so that it can be turned into a column.\u201d\u2014Gail Collins, \u201cThe Breast Brouhaha,\u201d November 18, 2009, New York Times Am I a worrier? It hardly seems worth asking; my pedigree is impeccable.\u00a0 My forebears worried about…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lisa Braver Moss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-31T19:40:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-10T16:53:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lisa Braver Moss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa Braver Moss\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/\",\"name\":\"Imposed Worry - Lisa Braver Moss\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-31T19:40:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-10T16:53:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99a2ac9706b22007bf5913f9f0bd9765\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Imposed Worry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/\",\"name\":\"Lisa Braver Moss\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99a2ac9706b22007bf5913f9f0bd9765\",\"name\":\"Lisa Braver Moss\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/050c2063403f3181c2a85711d1aafafc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/050c2063403f3181c2a85711d1aafafc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lisa Braver Moss\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/author\/lisabravermoss\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Imposed Worry - Lisa Braver Moss","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Imposed Worry - Lisa Braver Moss","og_description":"\u201cI have never believed that everything happens for a reason.\u00a0 But I do feel very strongly that everything happens so that it can be turned into a column.\u201d\u2014Gail Collins, \u201cThe Breast Brouhaha,\u201d November 18, 2009, New York Times Am I a worrier? It hardly seems worth asking; my pedigree is impeccable.\u00a0 My forebears worried about…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/","og_site_name":"Lisa Braver Moss","article_published_time":"2009-12-31T19:40:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-10T16:53:47+00:00","author":"Lisa Braver Moss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lisa Braver Moss","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/","name":"Imposed Worry - Lisa Braver Moss","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-12-31T19:40:52+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-10T16:53:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99a2ac9706b22007bf5913f9f0bd9765"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/with-imposed-worry\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Imposed Worry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/","name":"Lisa Braver Moss","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/99a2ac9706b22007bf5913f9f0bd9765","name":"Lisa Braver Moss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/050c2063403f3181c2a85711d1aafafc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/050c2063403f3181c2a85711d1aafafc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lisa Braver Moss"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/author\/lisabravermoss\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1734,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/1734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisabravermoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}