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“Don’t panic.” That’s easier said than done. Actually, these are the two most important words to remember for those of us who are chronic worriers. Low level stress and anxiety are perfectly normal during an emergency. It’s the high level of stress and the anticipation that something awful might happen that’s concerning like a temperature rising. How do we tamp it down? We ask ourselves: when did our tendency to worry excessively begin? We don’t remember ourselves as worry warts when we were younger. We flew in small planes alone, we tried daring activities for us, even if not skydiving or bungee...

As the world acknowledges the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), we look back with heartache at all the deaths, lingering illnesses from long Covid including lung diseases and havoc the virus caused including lost jobs and failed relationships.  Who can forget how we hunkered down in our pods with our nearest and dearest, fearful we would catch the illness if we opened mail without cleaning it and letting it sit or if we got too close to anyone even if they wore an N-95 mask and told us they never had the...

If moving, there is one dictum to keep in mind: change is inevitable, and it can be unsettling at first. Your routines—grocery shopping, going to a hair salon, finding a pharmacy and even shopping where you can buy books, gifts and cards—will be upended. Grocery stores are at the top of our list of most important places to visit. For some, it’s a daily shop, European style, carting your little wire grocery cart to pick up a few staples or esoteric spices or ingredients if a novel meal ends up on your repertoire. The former owner of fabulous Lutece in Manhattan,...

How do we use our time? Each of us has a different internal metronome that ticks a little faster or slower than other people’s does. For procrastinators, getting a read on time has never been easy. Some get right on a project or make a quick decision and move on. Some debate a little, and then there are the procrastinators who chew on their thoughts, then wait until the last minute to complete a project or make a decision. This reasoning can be paralyzing, and there are consequences.  But many keep doing so because they almost always get whatever they need...

We hem, we haw, we convince ourselves not to, but sometimes we debate and then pounce and buy something that turns out to be either a reckless impulse purchase—oops!--or extra-special wonderful such as long hoped-for trip, 100 scratch-off lottery tickets with one a winner or pricy season tickets to the opera where we can chill and block out what’s going on in the world around us.   Despite the angst we might experience in making a bad decision, a good decision is a gift. Here is our list of the “best decisions we’ve made.” What’s yours? **************************************************BarbaraPurchase of Jeni’s ice cream,...