Don’t Leap Right to Your Worst-Case Scenario

Today we are going to continue our discussion of a great article by Tim Hoch in Thought Catalog: “10 Ways You’re Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be.” Last time we talked about how making yourself the star of your own life’s movie can limit your perspective and your flexibility in your life.

The third way Hoch says that we make our lives harder than it needs to be is by “fast forwarding to the apocalypse.” In saying this, Hoch means that many of us have a very frustrating tendency to instantly obsess about the worst-case scenario of a given problem as soon as it arises. Even if that worst-case scenario is extremely unrealistic and unlikely to ever come to fruition, it’s easy to get caught in the “what ifs” of any given problem.

The problem with this is, this type of attitude will only create additional stress for us. As Hoch says, “negativity only breeds more negativity.” Obsessing about a potential “apocalypse” scenario does nothing other than make ourselves even more worried.

This can be a difficult habit to break. The best strategy to avoid this mindset is to simply take a deep breath, consider all of the possible ramifications of a problem and the likelihood that they will occur. In the vast majority of situations, the potential for a disaster is small.

Don’t obsess over worst-case scenarios — keep a positive mindset and understand that there is a solution to nearly every problem.