A Dilemma About Mental Frames

I often deal with my fears thus - I try to imagine the worst case scenario playing itself out, that it has already happened, and what I would do. I weigh the possibilities and options in that worst-case and ask myself how I would feel, what I would do. And I try to come to terms with such an eventuality - beforehand. Anything else is a bonus.

Such a mindset has been labelled as my friends as defeatist and fatalistic but it has it advantages sometimes. If you can deal with the worst now, if you have thought about it and are prepared for it, then when it happens you will be able to stay strong and calm and focus and be more likely to make the right decisions. Of course, reality is often far more stark than imagination but, for me at least, less impactful than if I have not contemplated it before at all.

But what if the worst-case scenario is unimaginable? One that you have never been able to fathom before? What if it is a case where you don't really have options, where you cannot imagine yourself getting out of, where whatever you do does not change the final outcome. Does imagining it now make you face it better when the day comes? Or does it just mean you are just putting yourself through two bouts of anguish?

And then there is the thing about positive thinking. So much anecdotal evidence of how it helps. So does imagining the worse jinx myself? Does it put in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy?

I am not paranoid...

Am I? (Heh.... Give yourself a pat if you caught the irony).

But at this very moment I am rather morose....