Anxious me, lucky you

 Article about serendipity and creating space for better luck. I flagged this tuthree weeks ago with citations. I doubt if you followed through on those earlier links. I'll fillet one sentence to save you the trouble

"wipe out your ‘to do’ lists. Pay the bills if you can, replace the burned-out lightbulb, catch up with doctors’ visits and teeth cleanings . . . When you stop procrastinating and these mundane things are finally taken care of, they will no longer take up headspace"

Amen, Brothers and Sisters! Dau.II is back to her daily call, now settled in her new gaff. After enough days had passed since our Thelmo and Blobise, I confessed that January had been a bit stressy for me . . .  because change. It was on me to facilitate two jurisdiction-changing life moves and I rarely seem to be able to expect everything to go smoothly - so sleepless nights. I certainly wasn't trying to guilt-trip her and explicitly acknowledged that the anxiety was endogenous and just looking for an external peg to hang its adrenalin hat on. It's quite likely, a few days after settling the last fret, to send out its feelers looking for the next big worry. That's why the italicised sentence is important: clearing the mental decks removes the burrs and hooks which can start to accumulate the anx-transmitters. Because, for sure, it's got to be controlled by some combo of cortisol, dopamine, GABA and epinephrine.

This is why good sleep hygiene [tutorial for better zzzzz] is so important: a dreamy 8 hours is like power-washing the polytunnel - everything looks clearer when you let in more light. I think, for me, anticipated travel is a good predictor for worry. I'm defo on the right track giving up the ould work. And a bit of lockdown is fine. YMMV of course, because your neurotransmitter cocktail is different from mine.