do you ever create bad events in your head?

[RoxMonster]

Yes I do things like this all the time. I always jump to worst case scenario. The light is on in the empty house next door? No way someone is moving in; it is definitely someone squatting over there building a meth lab. Stuff like that.

[Deleted]

May 9, 2013 16:01:56 GMT -5 saraandmichael said:

May 9, 2013 15:08:40 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

saraandmichael, do you ever do the opposite?  Think of great things happening?

I definitely do this.  I'm hokey and believe in positive thinking.

One of my co-workers is convinced that I make good things happen this way.  LOL.

oh, absolutely!  and that doesn't bother me a bit =)

and i kind of agree that positive thinking makes good things happen...you know, the whole "you get back what you put out there" kind of thing.

I'm happy to hear this. 

[saraandmichael]

May 9, 2013 17:13:28 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

May 9, 2013 16:01:56 GMT -5 saraandmichael said:

oh, absolutely!  and that doesn't bother me a bit =)

and i kind of agree that positive thinking makes good things happen...you know, the whole "you get back what you put out there" kind of thing.

I'm happy to hear this. 

its not often that i dwell on this bad stuff. i figure that i have plenty of legit shit that i could worry about if i wanted to so there is no need to borrow it, but for some reason this spooked me today. and i just know that logically it makes more sense that i messed things up, but i couldnt convince myself otherwise.

[awick14]

I do this all the time.

[zoidberg]

I can go from having a stomach ache to planning my funeral for when I die from the cancer that I certainly have.

[rex]

I do this all the time. I blame my anxiety. It stresses me out though.

You are not nuts.

[PennyCandy]

Sometimes. Usually, it's picturing a car accident and me getting horribly injured.

[maria120]

I do this all the time too.  I imagine something horrible happening to my kids or husband and get super freaked out about it.  Like I'm seeing what is going to happen or something.  It's awful.  Sometimes I think I need anti-anxiety meds or something

[jacquie]

Sorry you got mind-fucked today. It sucks.

I have a crazy vivid imagination and it often runs wild with worst-case scenarios, fairytale possibilities, etc. It can be exhausting.

[starlily]

Yep. I definitely started doing it more after I became a prosecutor, probably because I often read & see some really terrible things on a frequent basis.

[chittybangbang]

My therapist calls it catastrophising. Which isn't really a word but it fits. She says to manage it, let yourself think of the worst case scenario and then work backwards from there to the best case scenario. I find it helps manage my anxiety and stops me from stressing endlessly about the problem.

[blueballoon]

Yes, ever since I was a kid.

[jenna]

May 9, 2013 12:23:34 GMT -5 calledout said:

I think I remember an old Oprah where the guest explained that we're genetically programmed to do this sort of thing. Like, survival prepartion mind-games. My own disaster scenarios didn't begin until after my first was born, which I think is pretty common.

This.  Started the very night after E was born.  Had horrible dreams based upon a real event from the news.