Piglet and Pooh are in the woods cowering from a storm. Piglet is afraid…. And this….
“Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?”, Piglet asked.
“Supposing it didn’t,” said Pooh. After careful thought, Piglet was comforted by this.
Piglet is terrified that a tree may fall on them, which could reasonably happen during this storm. And Pooh suggests, relax.
It is easy to catastrophize. But why? Let’s take a look at a few examples.
1. Why is it Easy to Catastrophize
Catastrophizing — the tendency to expect the worst possible outcome — can hijack rational thinking, take over your life, and destroy very good things. While planning for a difficult outcome is a reasonable approach to life, expecting every difficult outcome will become exhausting to you, and to those around you. So why does it happen? Let’s take a look.
1.1. Afraid of something “even worse”
Taking a reasonable example, you find yourself in a relationship. You believe this person is cheating on you or may cheat on you someday. Oh my this is terrible! But are you really afraid that the person might actually like you, and stay in a relationship with you? Are you pushing them away, so you can rest assured in your normal pattern of being rejected, instead of experiencing a healthy relationship that you’ve never had before? Because that can be even more scary.
1.2. Past trauma
Maybe you’ve experienced trauma that has made accepting love or accepting happiness difficult for you. In those cases, it is easy to catastrophize the present, believing that happiness can’t possibly be on your radar.
1.3. Perfectionism and fear of failure
Ahh, a good one. The perfect is the enemy of the good enough. Waiting on a 100% solution makes you skip every 80% solution. It is easy to catastrophize when you demand “perfect”.
1.4. Lack of confidence
Low self esteem or lack of confidence makes it easy to catastrophize, because you may feel powerless in the face of uncertainty. Jumping to worst case scenarios is a way to “brace for impact” of failure, protecting oneself, because “certainly this is going to end in disaster!”
1.5. Cognitive distortions
If you’ve experienced a negative event in the past — or even a perceived negative event — it might be easy to generalize in future events. Failure in a job interview might lead to irrational thoughts of “I’ll never get hired anywhere!” These distortions can reinforce negative thinking patterns, and make it even more difficult to view situations reasonably.
2. Final Thoughts: Getting to a healthy future
Catastrophizing doesn’t predict the future — but it can destroy the future. Building a more resilient mindset, being grounded in the present, accepting life as it is not as you demand it to be, these things help to establish a reasonable view of the realistic world.
Instead of focusing on what might be, find peace in what is, today, in your moment.
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