What is the Worst Thing that can Happen?
A little hack to counter our worst fears.
When you’re about to do something really huge, do you ever get that feeling like you’re on a wild rollercoaster you did not ask to be on? All the air is sucked out of your stomach; at first, it’s in your lungs, exploding against your ribs, then it slowly rises towards your head until your eyes shut involuntarily, and you’re enveloped in loud thudding reverberations from your worst fears beating against every crevice of your body, trying to escape.
We all have moments like these, in nerve-racking situations that involve doing or even thinking about doing things we consider pivotal.
I am no expert, but as someone without the strongest self-esteem, what has often helped me is not:
- Ignoring and distracting myself until I have to face my fears again, or
- Saying, “Let’s get this over with,” in case it’s something inescapable,
But rather thinking it through, step by step or even journaling them to arrive at the so-called calamity.
What is the worst thing that can happen if every single thing that could go wrong did go wrong?
Once I have envisioned the bottom of the pit, my brain is automatically steered towards alternatives.
