A Nervous Wreck

As the man in the house, I am responsible for my family’s livelihood. As a result, I am constantly worried about every little thing and it has increasingly become an emotional stress for me. Even though I know everything will be fine, I still put my mind into stress cases.

When we drove 14 hours from Virginia to New Hampshire and back, I constantly worried that the cargo carrier on top of our minivan would pop open. All of our skis and helmets would fly out and would cause massive collisions, or worse, would kill other people. I slowed down my speed and prayed that we would make it to our destinations safely. Even though we had never experienced anything like that all these time we had traveled, and yet, the worry never left my mind.

As we were driving home last Sunday from skiing, my wife called and asked if I closed the outdoor faucet because she couldn’t turn it and the hose was frozen. Although I knew I had shut off the water, I didn’t disconnect the hose. I became a nervous wreck during the drive home. Thankfully the rain washed away the snow and the temperature increased; therefore, I was able to disconnect the hose from the faucet with some warm water.

On Monday, I found some water on the cover of the toilet seat in our basement and we hardly used that bathroom. I looked up at the ceiling and spotted a small hole. I touched the ceiling and it was wet. I broke off the drywall and found the water running along the beam. I tore off more drywall to see where the leak was coming from. It seemed to start from the outside. I suspect when the snow melted, the water seeped into our foundation and entered our basement. A leaking foundation would be a nightmare and I became extremely worried. I checked the outside foundation, but didn’t find any cracks or holes. I looked up YouTube videos to see how I could seal the foundation.

Yesterday, I went back down to check the leak area and the water was dripping. This time, the water seemed to come directly from the top floor because there was no snow or rain outside. I went upstairs and the dishwasher was running. I looked at the bottom of the Whirlpool dishwasher and spotted water dripping. I placed a small plate underneath to catch the water. I searched up YouTube and found several videos that showed similar issues. The worn-out dishwasher diverter seal grommet caused the leak. My wife placed an order on Amazon and it will arrive tomorrow. I hope that is the only issue. We’ll see what will happen when I replace that piece.

On one hand, I am increasingly feeling more comfortable with fixing things around the house. We don’t need professionals for these small issues. I also understand that they have overheads to pay; therefore, they would charge an arm and leg for something like these. On the other hand, the increase of constant worries is not good for my mental health. I am afraid that I will get a nervous breakdown over things that are unnecessary. I am just hoping that I can hold myself together.

I am doing my best to leave all my worries behind and just deal with issues as they come. Life is too short to worry about mundane things. I hope that my sons will be a better handyman than their father or they will make enough money to hire professional services to take care of everything so I won’t have to worry anymore and just live a peaceful life. Until then, I am just going to be a nervous wreck.