Don't worry....I've got it covered.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/look-on-the-bright-side-positivity-linked-to-longevity/article1927370/

I just read this article in The Globe and Mail about how one's positivity in life is linked to one's longevity. I'm doomed. Seriously. I'm the most anxious, obsessive-compulsive worrier I know. I never look on the bright side. The proverbial glass has always been half empty--not because I'm not happy. That's not it. I adore my husband, my family, my friends, my students, my job--even my neighbours and my mother-in-law. And most people hate their neighbours and their mother-in-laws. Not me.

But I am convinced that everything will turn out horribly and I always have been. I remember not being able to sleep for weeks before the school year began in elementary; I was convinced I would have the meanest teacher in the school. My mom would try to reassure me and tell me to "think positively"--but it doesn't feel possible. I also recall going on an airplane for the first time when I was 14 and scrambling to pack every morsel I could fit into my carry-on backpack because I was 100% confident that the airline would lose my luggage and that I would never see it again. Despite the heat, I think I must have worn seven layers of shirts, shorts and pants. I had resigned myself to the fact that never again would I see those pjs, socks, underwear, and few shirts that I hadn't been able to stuff into my bag or cram onto my marshmallow body. Of course, the luggage arrived in Toronto just fine and everyone told me that I'd overreacted. But I felt like I'd only prepared myself for the inevitable disappointments and inconveniences of life.

As I got older my pessimism never waned. I had convinced myself that I wouldn't be accepted to university (despite a 94% average); that I wouldn't get a summer job EVERY single summer (despite getting hired at Dofasco, Columbia International College, and Ford, all of which paid about three to five times the minimum wage my friends were making); that there was no way I was smart enough to successfully get into an MA program or Teachers' College (despite being offered a TA-ship and several scholarships); that I would never get a teaching job, what with the oversatuated educational job market (even though I didn't have to supply teach a single day in my life and had a full-time job come September 5th); and it goes on and on and on.

You'd think I'd have learned from these positive outcomes that if I'd just been optimistic in the first place, I could have spared myself the negative energy and enjoyed the ride a lot more. Quite the contrary, my friend. What if it is my cynicism that has been the precursor to the good experiences and outcomes in my life? Perhaps unequivocal certainty would have made me naive and thus unprepared or, worse, overly confident and thus arrogant.

So don't worry...about anything...I've got it covered.