I don't know your age, but at 78 (March), having had rator cuff repairs on both shoulders, (left one twice) and 2 back operations last year...older people take a lot longer to recover. And it is not good to rush it (that is why i needed two rator cuff repairs). And more importantly trying to keep control of everything will hold you back in more ways than one!! It is just fine to give up on caring about certain things, like things that will just have to be repaired sometime down the road! This is the kind of world we live in. Nobody really cares about scarred walls, etc, unless you are young and setting up housekeeping for the first time and I can't be sure those young people are that concerned either. I hear you...time is slipping away and you still have things to do and still have a few dreams in your mind AND you are stalled! Just put some attention on them and keep up with...what has to be kept up with and don't worry if it is (mostly) imperfect...this is not the time to worry about perfection! I know the sight of things breaking down, is a reminder that we are breaking down, too! Yes, aging is happening and will continue...can't stop it! But, you must have things that make you smile, something tasty to eat and a friend or two...who will let you vent to them in person or over the phone. Just focus on caring for all the things inside of you...that is hurting right now! And before long you will be back with a renewed outlook on healing and aging. You can always check in here and share your worries and even concern for others...that's it! Good luck...

Worry only hurts you and helps no one. be calm and assertive in any situation. you will find it really helps. watch Cesar Millan with problem dogs that he sorts out with this very method. it doesn't matter if you're not into dogs. can you imagine a doctor or nurse worrying?

Zinc and vitamin C for the healing, only know it works for me.
Anxiety is a bitch, try and reduce the things you have to worry about or you end up getting into a worry pattern and worry about things that are so unimportant its not funny. Solve problems sooner rather than later, don't put off hard decisions, get them over with, this all reduces the mental angst.

@Atheistman, not really Christian principles. Christians are great at hijacking the byproducts of society or common sense and claiming to have invented and nurtured them. I'm sure most Christians would endorse what I suggested. But that's coincidental. To me, it's about the science. Negatives are potential existential threats from which you should run / fight and ask questions later. Positives are basically distractions. That's what the science says plays out in our brains. It's great to worry about bushes rustling and assuming it's a predator and not the wind, when you're subsisting out on the savannah without tools or technology. It makes no friggin' sense when you live in the modern world. That's why you have to reorient your thinking -- not because of some Pollyanna feelgood notion but because you'll stress yourself into an early grave otherwise.

Read something like fantasy fiction...try to escape in your mind perhaps? Just a thought.

One day at a time... slow down time as you can so healing take place. But be positive. And accept father time demands as part of the process. I am sorry for your gardening accident.

This seems to be a 'mental illness' season. Good thing those critters have been 'saved'. I wonder if they know they have been 'saved'. Hehe.

In situations like this I try to ask myself, how is this working out for me? Your habitual thought patterns are making you miserable, sounds like.

The way I look at it ... natural selection has wired us to pay way more attention to annoyances and frustrations and obstacles, than we do to positives. That was great out on the savannah, but not much use in urban / technological societies like ours. That means you have to retrain your brain to pay more attention to positives. Negatives, by and large, are not existential threats, your brain just thinks they are. You can let them go for the most part. Positives are wonderful things, your brain is just used to ignoring them.

A simple way to start is to keep a journal -- write down three things every day that you are thankful for. If that's hard to do at first, that just means it's overdue.

You sound like a person who cares (negative expression of this is worry about loved ones), is sensible (baptizing pets?! who does that?!) is a good daughter (concerned for your mother) and active (don't like the slow healing). Those are four positive things about you.

The objective is to let life pass through you rather than crush you. Try it, you'll like it