Worry and Anxiety

In the David Brook’s article “The Epidemic of Worry”, he talks about worry and anxiety. Two very important things that can affect somebody’s mental health. Brook’s quotes Francis O’Gorman’s book “Worrying” that says “Worry is circular and it has a nasty habit of taking off on its own, of getting out of hand, of spawning thoughts that are related to the original worry and which make it worse.” I find this quote very interesting, because Brook’s is saying that no matter what kind of worry or anxiety it is, good or bad, it has the potential to get out of hand. This interests me, because a lot of things that we worry about are irrelevant to us. But can affect our lives in various ways. David Brook’s also says “Worry Alters the atmosphere of the mind. It shrinks your awareness of the present and your ability to enjoy what’s around you right now.” I thought this was very interesting, because it helped me understand that when you are anxious or worrying you have tunnel vision. Meaning that you can’t pay attention to anything else besides what you are focused on. This caught my attention, because I have experienced this. For example, when my brother was in the hospital for two months I had such a terrible time trying to focus in class. To me the scariest and most exciting part about life is not knowing what the next day will bring. Some people live like there’s no tomorrow, but others sit around worrying and not experiencing the full beauty of life. As Brook’s says in the article “Worry dims every sunrise”. This stood out to me, because I want to live an amazing life and make lots of memories. But I can’t do that if I am laying in bed worrying about something that probably won’t ever happen.

Senior Trip

            During my spring break of senior year my family and I went on a cruise. Ever since 2012, I have wanted to go on a cruise. On the boat there was all you can eat pizza and ice cream that was available all hours. Also there was a hot tub and two pools. There was no shortage of things to do while we spent the day on the boat.

            Our first port was Progresso. While we were signing up for the cruise we had picked things to do at each port. At Progresso we picked kayaking. We got off the boat and found our kayaking tour guide. Then we proceeded to our kayaking location. My brother and I were in a kayak together and my parents were in another one. We saw a lot of pink flamingos, and we went through jungle trees. These trees were all tangled together, it was a tight squeeze trying to guide a kayak through. When we had finished kayaking we still had some time to kill before we had to be back on the boat, so we walked around the pier to all the different little gift shops. Progresso was an experience I will never forget.

            The next day we woke up in Cozumel. On this day we chose to go paddle boarding and snorkeling. We took a bus to a resort on the ocean. At this resort there was a place to lay in the sand, a pool, paddle boarding, snorkeling, and a restaurant. First we paddle boarded. This was a lot easier than I expected. Next we went snorkeling, normally when you go snorkeling you have to look for the fish. But there was fish swimming all around you here. The water was so clear that you could we the bottom of the ocean perfectly. The coolest part about snorkeling was when our guide swam down to a rock and pulled out a sting ray. Most the people in our group were scared, but I was amazed by this. Next we ate at the ocean side restaurant, I ate some of the best enchiladas. We headed back to the ship early, so we could shop on the pier.

            Cozumel and Progresso are nothing alike. Cozumel is more tourists centered. They had lots of shops and things for tourists to do there. Where as Progresso didn’t really have anything to do other than the expedition that you signed up for.