For my whole life, one character trait has remained: I've always been a chronic worrier. Very small problems can cause me to stress out immediately. I always think of everything that could go wrong before I take action. While this is an admirable character trait in some people, in me, it is not. Often, I worry so much about a specific action that I never actually take said action. My life in spent on inaction. After the moment passed, I often feel horrible regret over my course of action, or rather, my course of inaction. The average life expectancy of a woman in America is 82 years. I am 16 years old. In 16 years I will be 32. In 32 years after that I will be 64. In another 64 years, I'll be dead. I don't have time to waste on thinking and planning! However, it's a cycle I can't seem to break out of, no matter how I try. And as last holiday season approached, I could feel my stress hanging above me like a sword – ready to pierce at any moment. I've never been very good about giving presents to people. All my gifts always seemed so…show more content… Classic mom. At least it gave me time to clean up my mess. A scattering of cookie crumbs still lingered on the table. I brushed them off with a wet paper towel, then put the milk and eggs back in the refrigerator. Next to the refrigeration was our cupboard. And inside that cupboard were two more bags of cookie mix. Two more chances. I bit my lip. Now or later. My mom snored peacefully on the couch nearby. Now. I grabbed one bag of cookie mix and turned it over to read the instructions. What had I done wrong? As my eyes scanned over the instructions, they caught something. The bag read “cook at 350 degrees.” I glanced over to the oven. It was still set to 450 degrees. Hah. My bad. That revelation filled me with new hope. It wasn't my fault! Well, it was, but it wasn't my cooking abilities that were the problem. I just didn't know how to use the dang oven. I turned the temperature down, whipped out a bowl, and got to
