Clearly this works for other people, and that is cool! Not for me though :(
My brain: "If it works out" then I won't have to worry about it, but while there's a chance it doesn't I still need to prepare myself for the worst scenario.
I can relate to this, but how are you actually preparing yourself?
Are you planning your response to the problem, considering how to improve the outcome for next time, learning from any mistakes you or others may have made to end up there?
Or are you just dwelling on the possible negative outcome that hasn't happened yet, so you can say 'Told you so' to yourself or anyone who will listen after the fact?
Like I said, I can relate to this, but I'm slowly trying to turn my pessimism into something productive.
In my anxious moods, I do sort of prepare myself. I try to think of every possible eventuality, every possible accusation or thought someone may have, every thing I might forget or fumble, and try to imagine what I might do to counteract or resolve it. It's still often a meaningless task because there are practically infinite possibilities, but in theory there's a logic and a benefit to it...
That is a cool way to think about it though. I might put more meta-thought into it for the future.
for that to have a chance of helping you have to have some expectation of it being possible in the first place and i don't understand how false hope is supposed to help.
if there's really a zero shot why not plan for adapting to the bad outcome instead of worrying about something you have no control over?
(answer, because you know somewhere that you do have some control and that there is some hope but for one reason or another you refuse to see it.)
Exactly what part of this is toxic positivity? This is about acceptance and control. Toxic positivity is when someone smiles at you and insists you play nice as they trample on your rights. You're just being a miserable shit who feels offended by being called out on it. In fact I contest the positivity part more than the toxic part - I don't mind being toxic; think you're a right git!
What if it works out? Then I'll have a lot of work to do to keep it working. What if I'm not good enough to keep it working and I turn it into a failure?
I'd say that's part of the fun of it all! How boring would it be to just always succeed? And how much pressure has to continually grow to never make an error? Nah, I say let's try things and fuck up...or succeed! And then run with it as far as it goes, fall down, and see if we can run farther next time.
The race may never end, but I still like running it!
Everything eventually breaks down or dies and there's nothing anyone can do to prevent that indefinitely. It only ever needs to work long enough to be useful. Don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough.
It literally has taken me 20 years to develop this skill. I knew I was stubborn, but damn!
There's a cool vocal piece by Roomful of Teeth in their latest album that works with the simple phrase, "how bad would it be?"
because most of my anxiety comes from uncertainty. having to prepare for success or fail is exhausting and scary
