What do you watch yourself for?

Welcome to Fluther! I appreciate your participation here.

Oh, I usually start worrying about myself when I detect boredom or lack of concern around something. I’m naturally a curious sort, and I have varied interests. When I feel myself shutting down and becoming less interested in the world around me, it’s usually a sign of trouble.

As I’ve aged, I’ve begun to acquire the usual suspects that accompany aging—concerns for my health, concerns for a smooth retirement, concerns for the world at large.

I can generally discern the reason for my worrisome behaviors; but dagnabbit, I have a hard time wresting control. I would not say that my worries are unfounded or inexplicable, but they are “little worries” in the grand scheme of things.

Whenever I feel an obsession to play “The Wall” repeatedly, I look to find out what it is that is causing me to start to slide into depression.
I also have to be careful not to overtalk whenever the conversation takes a lull.
Finally, I have to not be too much of a smart@ss when I finish my wifes’ sentences whenever she just trails off without completing it.

@burntbonez, welcome to Fluther. Good question.

I constantly have to watch myself for procrastination. Gods, if I only had the work ethic I had back in my freshman year of college… It’s been a continual downhill slide since then. Of course, I’ve gotten better and faster at writing, but that just increases my hubris, and I put off projects because I am a perfectionist and don’t want to start them until I am “perfectly” prepared and in the “perfect” mood to see them through to the end.

And speaking of moods, I definitely have to watch myself constantly for depression and negative self-talk. One of my favorite things to tell myself is “It doesn’t matter,” whenever I am feeling sad, despondent, lonely, frustrated, etc. I am still working on this, all the time.

I have to watch that I don’t let myself get distracted and stick to a task until it’s done.

Laugh lines around my eyes, which set off the “Botox!” alarm.

Binging.

I have certain symptoms that let me know I’m going to suffer a panic attack. If I catch them soon enough, I can avoid the attack, so I keep a keen eye out for them. I very rarely have a panic attack these days (maybe one a year maximum).

I don’t get as much walking/exercise as my doctor tells me I need.

@YARNLADY What do you do when you notice that you are not getting as much exercise as your doctor tells you to? In other words, why do you watch for that?

I notice that it is getting dark outside, and I have put my walking session off all day. Ooops – shame on me. Sometimes I just go out anyway.

I really need to get my exercise, because I want to live past my 100th birthday. Eating healthy is easy, but getting enough exercise is hard.

Like others here, I have to watch myself when I get bored. I will usually tinker with whatever is available and sometimes have to fix the damage I did snooping around. I also notice that if I get bored on a long trip, my right foot gets heavy. That’s I found that a Ford Focus will do at least 120 MPH. I slowed down just seconds before the cops appeared. I think I’ll have to go back to singing along with the radio. It’s safer and cheaper.

Good question. I am almost always watching myself. My cat is the type that when she is not sitting on me hunting or playing she likes to be on the highest perch staring down at the world and her people (me).

I think we are a lot alike that way. Watching /observing behavoir and doing something about it are often quite different specimen’s.

So now I mostly watch out for me watching myself and to get going. If I am always locked on self correction mode my creative and productive phases wane.

I usually notice that I’m thinking about something and acknowledge that I’m thinking. Then I wonder, “How can I think like this and understand what I’m saying without other people hearing it?”
I notice that whenever I’m doing a repetitive action (like washing plates or cutting several ½ cm thick lines into paper) I tend to do it in a certain rhythm on accident.
I notice that when I’m doing school work or anything else that requires my mind’s attention, I pull my bangs (they’re parted to my left) onto my ear and put my hand on my forehead as if blocking out light.
I notice that when I sit down on any seat except for a desk I sit cross legged with my right leg on the bottom and my left on the top.
It’s just the weird stuff about me that I notice…

My eyes are instinctively drawn to the joys of the breast, the firm/pert variety.
My only concern lies within the wife’s clenched fist, hey-ho, you live by the sword…blah, blah, blah.

I’m disturbed by memory lapses. Sure, I felt parts of my brain dissolving twenty years ago, when I started reaching for words that suddenly weren’t there. (God bless Mr. Roget.) And I’ve always been a little bit absent-minded, or rather, tending to be preoccupied and not noticing things right under my nose; been that way since I was a kid. But now we’re at “Don’t you remember, Ma? We talked about this yesterday.”

So far nothing major or ongoing, and yes, I usually do remember when reminded, but sometimes just…not. Given that I believe that memory and identity are basically one, this is damned scary. So I watch for it and compensate as much as I can.

Ticks, after walking through the woods around here.

Signs of mania.

Signs of depression.

Both can be difficult to determine whether they are strong enough to be worrisome or not.

Sometimes my behavior in dreams is foolish and insensitive. I worry that when I am presented with like situations while awake, I will not behave as I should.
Of course, it’s silly. While awake, I am usually considering all the variables, while when i sleep, I’m not.

Jeruba, I can so relate to your concern about memory lapses. My current disturbance in that camp arises from my very detailed dreams about mundane happenings and conversations. It is now quite difficult for me to discern if I’ve said/done something in the waking world or only in my dreams.

For example, I recently lost a pair of sunglasses (it’s always the expensive sunglasses that get lost). As I was driving to work one morning, I had a vivid recollection of placing them in a particular location. All the details were there. But it never happened, and I can only guess that I was recalling a dream. This type of “remembrance” is happening more frequently.

I’ve begun to prepend “if I’ve already told you this, please forgive me” to many of my messages and statements.