What is the Favorite Pastime of Americans?

If you were handed a sheet of paper and asked to list the 5 things we Americans love to do,
what would be number 1 on your list?
Oh ,I can guess what some of you might suggest as our most favorite thing to do.
Without getting into the details, please permit me to sum it up this way.
How about food, fun,friends,freedom, etc. I know.Thats a broad list of things we all love.
But still not the number one thing most of us love doing.
First we have to define love.Oh boy! Opened a can of worms didn't I? By love,I am not talking about those things mentioned above that we "enjoy" doing.Rather I am referring to the "thing" most of us spend a great deal of time and enegy doing.In essence.Most of us just love doing this!
Hopefully,I have your attention by now.So, here goes.
Would you agree with me that a majority of us just love spending our time worrying?
Yes.Worry has become America's number 1 pastime.Whether we call it tension,anxiety,or
worry,it manifests itself the same.Carved into our bodies by sores that we call ulcers.
Etched into our faces by lines that we call wrinkles.And pictured on our lips by the shape we call a frown.
It can be heard in footsteps pacing back and forth across a floor late at night.It can be seen by the picture of someone lying in bed staring at the ceiling without being able to sleep.
And worry is no respecter of persons.The rich worry about tomorrow because they have money and are afraid they’ll lose it. The poor worry because they don’t have money and don’t know how they’ll manage. The educated worry about tomorrow because they know so much to worry about.
The uneducated worry about tomorrow because they don’t know what to worry about!
We live in an age of anxiety.The young worry.The aged worry,and everyone in between.
To worry means to be pulled in different directions.Literally, it means to be pulled apart.
Worry will wear you down and tear you apart! We are all aware that a large precentage of illness has at it's root this monster called worry.Countless days are lost at work and billions of dollars spent dealing with the stress of evryday life.
Indeed, we have become a society that is "worrying" itself to death.
It's so easy to say worry is foolish.After all.Worry has never earned a single dollar.It's never lifted a single burden,or dried a tear.Worry is like a good rocking chair.It will give you something to do,but it won't get you anywhere.
Worry is fruitless.It cannot make you taller, thinner, or solve any of your problems.
It robs us of today's sunshine and places a dark cloud over tomorrow.
In my mind there is a giant of a dark cloud over the future of America.When I read the news reports of how the rising cost of corn (just to name one thing),is going to cause a sharp rise in the price of meat among other things,It bothers me.Yes,I plead guilty to worrying.
And yet, worry cannot lower the cost of groceries, or the price of gasoline.
Indeed,it only adds to the misery.Worry is never going to help us sleep, make us feel better,
solve our problems,or help anyone around us.Worry will never help us to improove our fitness,
finances, or future.
Now we have arrived at the point in this article where the road forks in several directions.
And far be it from me to "worry" about trying to convince you that my way of handling
worry is the best! In fact, it's not!
Being from and living in the south has convinced me of 3 things not to discuss in public.
My pratice is to not discuss polotics,religion, or nascar racing!
Yeah, I am being sarcastic! Forgive me please.What is your answer to worry?
Is it found in a polotician,a preacher,a princple,a pill,a person,a pet, or someone or something else?
Simply put.What brings you peace along this journey called life?
Perhaps you have read this far and think you are about to read the latest sales pitch for a book on how not to worry.Or some magical,mystical,mysterious formula for ending all the anxiety,stress, and worry in your life.If so, please accept my apology.
Not selling anything here.Not offering a simple plan for reducing stress and living happily ever after.Nope.You are on your own there!
May you find the solution to worry and find peace and happiness all the days of your life.
In the meantime, please excuse me.I need to run the spell checker and post this article, so I can worry about the response!