Thinking the Worst...Trying to Expect the Best

As I stepped outside, a steady rain was pounding the pavement. Luckily, the worst of the storm had passed, so it seemed safe enough to make my way to my car. Just as I was about to step off the curb, a streak of lightning made the night sky glow.

If you can hear thunder, you’re close enough to get struck by lightning, I thought, and reconsidered walking to my car. While I was debating whether I should go back inside the store, lightning lit up the sky again.

I could get struck by lightning just standing here, thinking what if I get struck by lightning, I mused. Looking around, I saw a few people sitting outside at tables. They seemed relaxed and not at all worried that they could get struck by lightning. Then, two men ran to their cars as lightning filled the sky again.

I should be able to do that, too, I thought. I tightly gripped my grocery bags and made a dash for my car. Rain poured down on me, but I didn’t care if I got wet; all I wanted to do was get inside my car safely. I threw my bags in the backseat and just as I sat down in the front seat, it started lightning again.

But I had made it. I had imagined the worst, but I took a chance and everything was okay.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult for worrywarts to imagine positive outcomes during dire situations (okay, so maybe “dire” is a tad harsh; us worrywarts can be a bit on the dramatic side sometimes!). The above situation is a great example. Instead of imagining myself getting safely in the car, I imagined myself getting struck by lightning. Even though I know the chance of getting struck by lightning is low, it’s still a possibility. And once something is a possibility, please be patient with us, non-worrywarts, because we are going to start worrying about it!

Take, for example, the flesh-eating bacteria that has made the news in recent weeks. Lately, it’s all I’ve been worrying about. Supposedly, getting this type of bacteria infection is rare, but that doesn’t stop me from Googling about it and imagining the worst possible scenario. A couple of weeks ago I got a pretty bad bug bite that I thought could have been infected by this bacteria. If I hadn’t heard about the bacteria before I had gotten the bug bite (which now, I think was a spider bite), would I have worried about it at all? Probably not, because I hadn’t even heard of flesh-eating bacteria!

I wish I didn’t jump to bad conclusions all the time. Doing so prevents me from taking chances and living life to the fullest. If I could just believe that everything will be okay and not always think the worst, I may find myself completely enjoying life without any worries. And wouldn’t that be novel? Then what would I blog about??? :-)