Honestly, I blame my mother. Years of constant "When will you be home?" "Who are you with?" "Do you have your key?" "Should I stay up and wait for you?" interrogations have led me to this point today.

Excessive worrying seems to run in my family.

I began to notice it last summer while nannying for my nieces, when one day at the pool, after the two exuberant little girls I was in charge of taking care of eagerly ran off to the shallow end, I distressingly yelled after them: "Make sure you don't go in any further without me! I need to make sure you have your floaties! I need to be able to see you at all times! I need to make sure you're safe!"

And then it all forcibly hit me at once, like a sudden gust of violent wind: I had become my mother.

In that sense, at least.

Say hello to future years of long nights waiting up and superfluous texts "just checking in." Years of constant over-protection and incessant stress over the well-being of others. Lucky me.

Time moves

so

much

slower

when you are waiting to see if someone will get home alright. Or if someone has another person to walk home with at night, once it starts to get dark. Or if your best friend who's been sick will finally stop vomiting so you can make sure she gets some sleep. The scenarios are endless.

But acting like a worried mother from time to time isn't all bad. Someone has to do it, right?

A healthy amount of worrying is a good thing because it shows that you care. Nobody likes the person that shrugs off semi-urgent situations as "no big deal." That's the kind of person that disastrous accidents happen around. No one needs that kind of person in their life.

Being able to worry (maybe admittedly a little too much) about others shows a certain level of maturity and selflessness that you should be proud of - you are able to see past yourself and into the general safety and security of others. Not everyone is able to say that about themselves.

So embrace the crazy. Let yourself act a little insane with concern every now and then - but also learn to relax. Worrying too much will cause immoderate levels of stress that are not healthy to you - or, for that matter, to those around the ring of fire that you will surely produce once the stress starts to build up and you explode from fret. You can't control everything and ultimately the decisions of others are not up to you (even though the control-freak side of you desperately wishes they were.)

Let yourself worry. It's okay to act like a worried mother from time to time - just let it happen in small doses. Your body (and the people around you) will thank you for it in the end.