I have vowed several times in the last few years to become a carefree person. T...

I have vowed several times in the last few years to become a carefree person. This intention always provokes paroxysms of laughter in those who know me best.
I am, by nature, a worrier, a pacer. I obsess. I regret. Most of all, I am afraid.
So, for this new year, I have decided to sail my little boat under the flag of the last few lines of D. H. Lawrence’s “Song of a Man Who Has Come Through:”

“What is the knocking?
What is the knocking at the door in the night?
It is somebody who wants to...