Be prepared for the worst but don’t always expect it otherwise anxiety is guaranteed.
We all have anxiety in us in one form or another. However, some have more of it and others less. Me personally, I am a very anxious person, especially in situations that I cannot plan or predict. Since being a mother, I became even more of a scenario planner that is trying to plan as much as possible. Many anxious people are like me, real scenario planners, thinking through all the options and alternatives to be as prepared for any outcome as possible. There is however one problem with that - if you overthink it the anxiety is growing stronger rather than get less or eliminated.
Being prepared for all odds and doing scenario planning is not a bad thing. Quite the opposite. I am absolutely combined that planning and being organized are key factors that will lead to a successful life and making the right decisions well in advance. Those things take time and by planning and strategizing we think about things early enough to consider all options.
The problem starts however l, when we do not only plan positive scenarios which we usually enjoy, but also constantly explore options about negative ones. As an example, when we start a new job, a positive scenario is we pass probation, and all goes well. The negative one is we don’t make it through and don’t get hired permanently. Especially anxious people are tempted to concentrate a large amount of time on those negative scenarios. If we keep doing this, it will trigger even more anxiety in us and put us under constant mental pressure which will directly affect our long-term content and happiness. This way, as mentioned before, we are not reducing anxiety by planning but trigger even more of it.
We therefore should not spend that much time to always plan for the worst-case scenario only. Generally, we should have a healthy portion of optimism when it comes to planning our life and the different scenarios of any given situation we face. This will help us not to get too caught up in negativity and only deal with negativity when it happens. This however does not men’s not to be prepared for worst case scenarios, we should just not give that angle so much mental force and power.
People that plan and strategize a lot are usually thinkers that take things in life quite seriously. The reason why we plan so much therefore is an underlying desire for security. We the tree for try to be prepared for all that comes our way, including the worst things. The beauty in life is though, that we cannot plan for everything and things in life just happen. Hence, to dwell on about negative things does not even answer our desire for that security in the end, as we cannot predict everything that will ever come our way.
It is therefore about balance. Be prepared for different scenarios on the one hand and plan your life so that you minimize surprises. However, don’t dedicate too much mental space to negative scenarios as it will trigger more and more anxiety. We cannot plan everything and things will happens that we have to deal with. Be prepared but don’t be over prepared by constantly expecting the worst and negativity. You will be less anxious and happier in the long term while not losing your strength of planning and being organized.
