October 30, 2026
Hi Reader
When I was a kid, I hated scary movies. Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, anything with Freddy Krueger in it aka a man with a knife. My sister, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious how scared I got.
After one of those movies, I’d spend weeks checking under the bed, behind the closet door, anywhere someone could possibly hide. One day, just for fun, my sister decided to hide in my closet.
If you’ve ever seen someone literally jump out of their shoes, that was me.
I laugh about it now. But somewhere along the way, the things that scare me changed. They don’t hide in closets anymore (although they could), and they don’t go away on November 1st. But do any of the following fears resonate with you?
Running out of money. After nearly 30 years in finance, you’d think this one wouldn’t keep me up at night. It does sometimes. Knowing the numbers doesn’t make you immune to the “what ifs.” This AI market makes me nervous even if I have enough saved.
Missing the moments. Every fall we head south to Florida, and every fall I feel it, that tug of being farther from the grandkids. I know, they have busy lives and I probably wouldn't see them much more if I were in the snowy North. But I still miss them and their little hugs, funny faces and laughs.
My people getting older. This recently hit close to home as a good friend recently passed away quickly from pancreatic cancer. Whether it's friends, family or ourselves - remember time is precious and we need to enjoy all the moments.
Losing my sense of purpose. This sneaks up on many of us in retirement. Work gave our days a shape, and without it, it’s easy to drift. As you know, my husband recently retired. He is definitely finding this loss of sense of purpose.
Here’s what I’ve learned, though: naming the fear takes away half its power. The other half comes from doing one small thing about it.
For money worries, that means looking at the real numbers instead of the imagined ones. For distance, it means getting the next visit on the calendar. For the people we love, it means calling instead of texting. For purpose, it means saying yes to something new, which, for me, turned out to be this blog.
None of these fears disappear. But they shrink when I look straight at them, the same way my closet stopped being scary once I opened the door and found my sister grinning back at me.
So tell me: what scares you now? Hit reply. I read every one.
Happy Halloween,
Wendy
Quote of the Week
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living (1960)
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