Interlude: The worst case scenario and the Kardashian’s

Being a person that constantly thinks about worst case scenarios is much like choosing to watch the Kardashian’s. It’s painful, it makes no sense and it’s like smacking your head against a wall. Yet why do we do it?

Constantly running the worst case scenario in our mind is a protective mechanism designed to ease the pain of possible future outcomes. People who do it have often gone through an experience within their lifetime which gave them a massive shock, followed by pain and even trauma.  The idea of the worst case scenario is to prepare a person from the full intensity of future shocks, thereby making life less painful.

If done correctly this technique can be beneficial. Though if done incorrectly it is much like trying to find philosophy quotes on Kim K’s tweets. Yet again, it will do your head in…

Our mind is extremely powerful, and when we run the worst case scenario we not only see a possible outcome, we experience it. In many ways, unless we remain emotionally distant, we are putting our self through torture. The longer we think about all of the bad things that can happen to us the more we build anxiety, worry, doubt and of cause, fear.

So is it possible to make this process work to our benefit? As Kim K said in her most famous video, yes, yes, oh Yes, YES!!!

When you think about it, the worst case scenario in most cases would have to be death. And even death, when faced with the realisation that your time is up, is often followed by acceptance. We go through acceptance because we realise that there is nothing we can do about the inevitable outcome. Therefore most people accept it and make the most of the time they have left.

So if death (or watching a full season of the Kardashian’s… whichever comes first) is the ultimate worst case scenario, and even that can be embraced, then there isn’t much to fear except for fear itself.

If you remove personal pride, distance yourself from ego and see the big picture of life, then many of the things we take most seriously can become insignificant. Getting a written warning from work is no different from hanging out at the principal’s office as a child. Going through a breakup is nothing more than an opened door to finding self-love. And not knowing what you are doing in life means that your possibilities are endless.

It is important to remember that the impact of most experiences, are as big as the emphasis and perception we apply to them. So sure, we can make our worst case scenarios as big as the Kardashian’s, or, we can see how most outcomes are insignificant, just like the Kardashian’s. And by looking at the worst case scenario in this way, we realise that we don’t have to fear the outcome, but instead, just be aware of our mindset.