When I experienced excessive stress in my job, my wife asked me to resign instead of getting sick. It was a sad decision for me but later on I realized that I was already in the retirement age so maybe I can have a good life. True enough, my wife provided everything and I enjoyed life with no more job-related stress. My fear was the lack of occupation but I forgot that I have so many things to do when I do not have a job anymore.

I have to admit that stress is always there maybe because I have an emotional imbalance. But as much as I can I try to fight off stress with relaxation. I called for a massage tonight so I am expecting to have a good night's sleep. I also focus on the tv after dinner just to make me relaxed. In short, stress can be avoided if I get excited or I am relaxed.

When I was handling a writing workshop for a non-profit organization, we had a student who was very eager to write. She is already a writer but she wanted to enhance her knowledge. She was trying to get closer to me maybe because I was the officer who is in charge of the workshop (but I am not the lecturer). We had been communicating by email and phone text. But there came a time that she admitted her problem that she is bipolar. That is the reason for her sudden mood changes. That turned me off. I am sorry to be discriminating but I got scared.

I feel good to see that our street is finally open to vehicles again after waiting for the cement to dry up (it took 3 weeks of waiting). It used to be a dirt road and has some puddles of rainwater during the rainy season.Now it looks like a playground with the kids playing on the concrete road. Definitely the value of our house have increased.

When I separated with my first wife I was not aware that anxiety was starting to bug me. After I took a bath I noticed that I was slightly shaking. Since I had no idea that it was anxiety attack already, what I did was to go to our physician's clinic. The doctor confirmed that it was anxiety and that it is only me that can cure it. He did not give me anything except a glass of water. I went home still feeling not really good.

When the 2nd attack came after a month I realized that I was beaten by anxiety. Since it is only me that can cure it, I tried but I failed. I went to another doctor who gave me tranquilizers. After taking the tranquilizer, I felt better. The prescription was good and it helped me handle anxiety. Until now I have some tranquilizers although I have not used it for many years now.

My wife died in October 2021 and I admit that until now I have fully recovered from the grief. In the past 2 weeks I have noticed that I would feel sleepy by 9 pm so I would sleep. However, I would wake up after an hour (sometimes at midnight) and even if I feel sleepy my mind was active as if fighting with my sleepy feeling. In other words, I think I have developed insomnia. But after 2 hours or so I would fall asleep and I would wake up by 5 am which is a good time to rise.

What can you suggest for me to combat insomnia? I used to experience that when I was a teenager so I don't remember how I was able to control my sleep pattern.