How much thought have you given to overthinking? Am I the only one that does this? I can’t possibly be.

I’ll start thinking about something that maybe isn’t going as well as I’d hoped, and then I’m coming up with all kinds of kooked-out scenarios that have as likely of a chance to happen as Ron DeSantis suddenly becoming an empath. For example, my freshly-turned-14-year-old son is starting high school in a couple of weeks. (WHAT? Guess I blinked again.) He won’t be doing the traditional full-on barrage of in-person class attending that is typically one’s freshman year. Middle school overwhelmed him completely; not surprising since he has ADHD, is very young for his age socially, and is also a complete introvert. Add to this the fact that he was officially diagnosed with autism in June…there’s another layer of intrigue added to the mix.

So we decided to enroll him in our district’s blended learning program. This will enable him to do most of his classwork online and attend classes of a much smaller size for a few hours a week. The overthinking around this has been a real party in my head…online learning during Covid was a disaster, so how does that reflect on this arrangement? (Answer: cringe) What accommodations will the school make for the autism diagnosis? It’s already not easy getting his 504 plan followed for the ADHD; he was denied an IEP in 7th grade, so whose to say that anyone will even acknowledge that he’s autistic? Will he like his teachers? Will he like his counselor? Will he make any friends? Will this just be a complete shitshow since I have no idea what to expect…since I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing as a responsible mother, ever?!?

And so forth down the rabbit hole. It’s maddening.

But I recently learned a secret that has helped me stop spinning so g*d*mn much. I can’t control things that happen around me…but I can control my thoughts about them. I can decide, when these worrisome thoughts come at me, to actually respond to them with:

“But what if it all goes well?”

Do I really have to automatically focus on the worst-case scenario? No, I really don’t.

Worrying about things that are out of my control is a waste of my bandwidth.  These things are coming, they’re out of my control, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Terrifying…or kinda liberating?

Be well, beauties and cuties :)

Love and hugs, Dana