Things I worry about

Tiny worries: what’s for dinner tonight? Should I have a regular or herbal tea? Do I want a second biscuit?

The day to day worries: What’s for dinner? Do I need to go to the shops? How many layers do I need to wear to keep warm? What time do I need to get up on the morning?

The job related worries: Am I managing my team well? Am I stuck in my job? Is what I do so specialised and specific that my skills will never be transferable to another organisation? Do I want a promotion? Am I doing my job well? Why do other people always seem to be busier and more stressed out than I am?

The big picture worries going on on the background: climate change, homelessness, development challenges for the third world.

The longer term physical worries: Why aren’t I eating well and exercising and taking proper care of my body? What more do I need to do to reduce my cholesterol? Is that clicking in my ankle a bigger problem that will give me arthritis? Is that itch in my armpit just an itch or is it an early sign of breast cancer? Will I still be active and mobile when I get old?

Worries that I never had until this year: Do I have a clean face mask? Did I touch my face? Is that cough just a cough or something more sinister? Will I catch covid before there is a vaccine? Did I wash my hands enough?

Close to home worries I can’t do anything about but about which I still worry: Will Brexit f*** up the economy even worse than Covid? Will the economy recover from Covid? What happens if they don’t stop the infection rates before the NHS is overwhelmed (again?) Will my friend get a job this year?

Financial worries: What if I get sick and lose my job and all my savings? Am I putting enough money into my pension to afford to live when I get old?

Vain and selfish worries: Am I losing my hair? Is my skin starting to sag? Do I look old? Do people think I’m a good person? Do people even like me?

Existential worries: Will my novel ever be finished? How will I die? What will life look like when I retire? Should I quit my job?

What questions do you turn over in your head when you can’t sleep?