How Do You Deal With Anxiety?

I have friends who overeat, won't eat at all, drink, do drugs, pick their cuticles, pick their face, get way too busy, won't get out of bed, cut themselves, pull out their hair, crack their knuckles, surf the web (AHEM you bloggers and porn addicts), shop, clean, watch movies or read books incessantly, overexercise, have random sex, shoplift, work too much or not enough, etc.

With relentless media images of problems we can't control, what bad habits do you turn to for an illusion of control?

While I've done several of the above before, this time around I'm overeating and picking at the scabs on my left elbow (don't ask, I have no idea...but if you saw my left arm you'd understand. When things are really really bad, look for the right elbow to be scabby).

Alchohol consumption is way up for me. Two drinks a day, usually starting at 3 pm. Which of course has caused me to gain 5 pounds, because pretty much any caloric intake over 1200 a day = me being a fatty fat can't- fit- in my- new- clothes- I- bought -because - I'm -a - fat PIG. Oh yeah, and the self-talk gets a little negative. It's like I'm PMSing only worse. Which makes me not leave the house, so procrastination and absenteeism become issues.

Current Automatic Stress Reactions Beyond My Control = pimples, migraines, insomnia and canker soars, grinding my teeth at night, and cracking my neck while I'm asleep.

If I could pick my poison, I sure wish my stress reactions were to clean and exercise too much. Oh yeah, and to write too much, too. Whoo yeah, bad habits, those.

And you? (Place your negative personal ad here!)

If you actually want more Katrina news, may I suggest here and here. Oh, and don't forget the Police's version of Girls Gone Wild. And no, Snowball has not been found. They picked up a small dog of an entirely different breed.

On an unrelated to Katrina note, look how far womenhaven't come! The Onion story is faux for those of you not in the know, but the stats are real.