Post #105719 by Geeky Tiki on Mon, Aug 2, 2004 10:35 AM

Man, I forgot about the brain part.

I always had a way of approaching situations regarding this that actually helped reduce my worries.

One day as a youngster, I asked myself about the worst thing that could happen to me. I came up with: "I suffer some grave and horribly painful injury that renders me unable to move or communicate, but my brain is still intact. I would be able to feel the horrible pain as I rot in some nursing home but would not be able to do anything except endure until I waste away and die, only to find out that there is a Vengeful God and He/She thinks it would be amusing to make the situation last for eternity."

The helpful part:

Whenever I think about doing something socially stupid or some normal activity that I should be worried about, I always ask myself, "Self, what's the worst thing that could happen?"

Well, the answer is always, "Painful injury, incapaciated, suffering, Vengeful God..."

See?

Instead of being worked up about how some talk or presentation will turn out, the outcome of those things pales in comparison to "Paralyzed, terrible pain, rotting, Vengeful God..." and I relax. No matter how things turn out, it is always way better than my worst case scenario and I am happy.

An even deeper fear: Knowing te above to be the worst thing possible changed when I had kids. Now THERE is a situation rife with fear - that something could befall the kiddos. But keeping this on a totally self-absorbed level, the "Pain, rotting, Vengeful God" thing still ranks.

One thing you should keep in mind should this fear/coping thing seem to apply to you: Tell all your friends and family that if you are ever totally paralyzed and rotting in terminal care that they have to slip you some acid or ecstacy, put pot in your ventilator, or administer your drug of choice on a regular or daily basis to make the situation a little better. Securing that promise from whoever can be very reassuring.