Survivivng the Recession Like a Dog

This is not so much a business-related post as it is a random thought post. It is also a procrastination post as I'm supposed to be finishing my year-end QuickBooks prior to my tax meeting with the accountant on Friday. But who really wants to work on that before 10am. Or really, at all?

So the random thinking I was doing last night while not being able to fall asleep was about how crazed we all seem to get about the economy. Not that we shouldn't, but in reality, do any one of us have the power to change the way the economy is headed? If the Fed is predicting that the jobless rate is going to hit 10%, there's really not a heck of a lot I can do to prevent that now is there. And it's not like I can really personally offer to bail out Wall Street. Sure, there are the obvious things my husband and I can do but, in truth, those actually revolve around hoarding our own stash of money which keeps that money from circulating in the marketplace and does, in its own very small way,contribute to the financial crises.

To make matters worse, when you work from home you have the ability to catch all the latest news and angst about the economy. Just in case you missed the 7am update on how bad the economy is it'll get replayed for you at 9am, 12noon, 5pm, 10pm, and 11pm. Not to mention all the news "promos" that promise to tell you at one of those news hours how bad the economy is. There's also all the so-called experts on talk shows coming on to tell us about the Armageddon we're heading into and, of course, if you really want to lose your mind, CNBC.

Since working myself into a tizzy about the economy isn't doing anybody a whole lot of good, I've decided that I need to change my approach and work towards surviving this recession with the same attitude my dogs have. Just a few examples:

1. They opt to nap rather than watch CNBC
2. They are content to simply spend the day looking out the window (ie - enjoy the small things)
3. When things get stressful all they need is a good run around the lake to make them feel better
4. They don't follow the day-to-day ups and downs of the market but take a longterm approach to investing
5. At the end of the day, if you're really stressed, bark at some squirrels

That's my new approach to emotionally dealing with the economy. Do you have any other suggestions?