Stop! Drop! Roll!
I’m part of an online mastermind. Coaches, thinkers, doers from all over our nation meet to learn, share, and encourage each other. Recently, we had an in-depth discussion about catastrophic thinking – that wasteful thinking that prevents us from taking meaningful action. Often, we get caught up in thinking of the worst-case scenario.
I’ve been thinking about that discussion ever since. It reminds me of scenes from the show This Is Us. One of the stories in the show features parents of a teenager, a tween-ager, and a young daughter. Many times, one of their children would drop a bomb that takes the parents, Beth and Randall, completely by surprise.
Beth and Randall then play a game they call “what’s the worst that could happen?” They purposefully catastrophize the situation, which leads to some comedic relief of dramatic tension.
Catastrophic thinking, or catastrophizing, is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s our brain working to protect us – the brain’s Number 1 function. However, too often, we get caught in the loop of catastrophizing and stay there. We let the ideas of “the worst that can happen” become our perceived reality. Our brain goes haywire telling us stories about imagined scenarios that haven’t even happened!
Here’s something to try. When you find or recognize that you’re stuck in catastrophic thinking, imagine the room is on fire and remember to
Stop the catastrophic thinking in its tracks.
Drop! Drop all the alternative ideas.
Roll! Take one simple action and roll with it.
Once we stop the catastrophizing and act, we tell the brain that everything’s OK and we can move back into forward progress!
Good luck out there!