I Was So Worried I Didn’t Eat A Bite Of Solid Food For Eighteen Days
By
Kathryne Holcombe Farmer
Sheriff’s Office, Mobile, Alabama
Three months ago, I was so worried that I didn’t sleep for four days and nights; and I did not eat a bite of solid food for eighteen days. Even the smell of food made me violently sick. I cannot find words to describe the mental anguish I endured. I wonder whether hell has any worse tortures than what I went through. I felt as if I would go insane or die. I knew that I couldn’t possibly continue living as I was.
The turning point of my life was the day I was given an advance copy of this book. During the last three months, I have practically lived with this book, studying every page, desperately trying to find a new way of life. The change that has occurred in my mental outlook and emotional stability is almost unbelievable. I am now able to endure the battles of each passing day. I now realise that in the past, I was being driven half mad not by today’s problems but by the bitterness and anxiety over something that had happened yesterday or that I feared might happen tomorrow.
But now, when I find myself starting to worry about anything, I immediately stop and start to apply some of the principles I learned from studying this book. If I am tempted to tense up over something that must be done today, I get busy and do it immediately and get it off my mind.
When I am faced with the kind of problems that used to drive me half crazy, I now calmly set about trying to apply the three steps outlined in Chapter 2, Part One. First, I ask myself what is the worst that can possibly happen. Second, I try to accept it mentally. Third, I concentrate on the problem and see how I can improve the worst which I am already willing to accept- if I have to.
When I find myself worrying about a thing I cannot change -and do not want to accept-I stop myself short and repeat this little prayer:
“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.”
Since reading this book, I am really experiencing a new and glorious way of life. I am no longer destroying my health and happiness by anxiety. I can sleep nine hours a night now. I enjoy my food. A veil has been lifted from me. A door has been opened. I can now see and enjoy the beauty of the world which surrounds me. I thank God for life now and for the privilege of living in such a wonderful world.
May I suggest that you also read this book over: keep it by your bed: underscore the parts that apply to your problems. Study it; use it. For this is not a “reading book” in the ordinary sense; it is written as a “guidebook”-to a new way of life!