Avoiding the mire, as I retire.

I retired on July first, but it didn't really seem much different for the first 10 days.  I had immediately left for our church's family camp, which is an annual event.  It felt like every other recent year until I got home from camp, dug myself out from under the massive pile of laundry, restocked the house with groceries, and then realized I could sleep in instead of rolling out early and heading for work!  Ahhhhhhh.....

Today was spent at our new house beginning to get it ready to move into.  I worked in the finished walkout basement washing walls and doing a general cleaning.  A handyman I hired was upstairs stripping wallpaper and getting ready for the paint and paper job throughout the main floor.

Before I jumped into the project this morning, I had a momentary panic that I wasn't going to be able to keep my mind busy today.  If I can't focus on something productive, I slide into chewing my cud on depressing issues:  a granddaughter who is, as some would say, climbing fool's hill; a daughter who has a strident and abrasive attitude about an issue on which we disagree; another daughter who has made so many bad decisions that she is buried under a mound of consequences much larger than the afore mentioned pile of laundry; a granddaughter who is so grossly overweight that I am terrified for her physical health; a grandson who I am afraid is stealing; in-laws who are in their 90s and trying to manage in their own home with widely varying degrees of success from day to day. It is far too easy to fill my mind with the possibilities that might ensue from these situations.  I mull over what my role should be.  Are there actions I should take?  It requires conscious effort not to be driven mad by an abundance of negative scenarios.

Even praying about these issues sometimes increases my anxiety.  I don't know how to pray.  Attempting to pray specifically leads me right back into examining the myriad of possible outcomes.  I have only two solutions.....first, I thank God that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us interpreting the agonizing and jumbled thoughts into coherent and meaningful prayer.  Second, I keep my mind busy, so that it doesn't wallow in the mire of fretting..