An Ode To Catastrophizing
I am a strategic thinker. The CliftonStrengths test confirmed this to be true. I like to have plans in place, options and ways to easily pivot when plans change. This also means I like to think about all the ways something will go wrong. Then I can go down a rabbit hole. Everything is horrible and the world is on fire.
Oh, wait. That’s what everyone is doing these days.
This past weekend, a friend and I were discussing how every generation says “this is the worst it’s ever been.” Sure, it’s easy to feel that way in 2023. On the heels of a global pandemic, a rocky economy, mass shootings … there’s a whole lot of uncertainty. A lot of danger. I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t have a happy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
But don’t you think the people who were victims in the Holocaust thought this was the worst it’s ever been? Or what about during the draft? Or Vietnam? Or following 9/11? There’s always something horrible happening (wow, I should really look into becoming a motivational speaker), but that doesn’t mean there isn’t light in the dark. If you can’t look in your child’s eyes and tell them you’re going to stand up and fight for a better tomorrow for them, then shame on you.
Yes, I can, at times, find myself catastrophizing and I need my anchor (Blake) to bring me back down to earth, but then I get right into action mode. What can I do and how can I do it? Who do I need to call? How many doors do I need to bang on? I recently bought a whistle. Blake wasn’t pleased. He said I don’t need anything to make me louder. LOL The joke was because I’m a whistleblower. I won’t just sit idly by when I see problems. I will look for solutions. So then I had some fun Schitt’s Creek quotes put on the tab.
I mean, I’m currently sweating the fact I hate this dumb WordPress site and my web gal is booked up through June. The nerve! 🙂 Talk about a catastrophic nightmare of first-world proportions. (Actually, this just in … she loves me and decided to work her magic and make my site pretty before June! YAY!)
Okay, that’s it. I don’t have any psycho-babble b-s to share with you about how to fix it. Who wants to listen to that nonsense anyway? I mean, you’re going to do what you want to do anyway. 😉
About Heather
(So, my web designer says I needed to include a bio, though I find this task silly because, if you’re here, you know me.)
I’m a writer. It’s what I do. It’s a cathartic mechanism when I need release from my anxiety. I’ve had blogs in the past; I’ve taken them down, but I never stopped writing. I simply can’t. My notes app is forever long as it’s filled with pages and pages of different topics. Sometimes I just write a few sentences. Sometimes I write paragraphs.
Recently, I've been writing long essays. My friends and others I hold dear have coaxed me into sharing my work again.
So that's what I'm doing, you wicked, pushy people. LOL
I have no desire to see my writing be anything more than an opportunity to share what I love doing most. I have no interest in this blog reaching the masses.
I thought it would be fun to call it My Spicy Disaster because that's often how I feel. A complete mess of epic proportion. So join me, if you'd like, and let's pretend we're not sitting amongst the chaos crying, but laughing instead.
Or maybe we do cry sometimes, but then wipe our tears and remember one person’s disaster is another person’s … well, who the hell knows …