"Letting Go of Catastrophizing: Moving Forward"

Horrible traumatic events occur daily. Each time one happens, my heart and soul hurt for those involved. I don't know how they feel. I know that a tremendous amount of pain and grief has entered their lives. This leads me to the question for today. "What do you want to let go of"?. I want to let go of catastrophizing. A definition I found is this "Catastrophizing is a cognitive distortion where an individual tends to imagine and magnify the worst possible outcomes or consequences of a situation." Whenever I hear of a negative event, my mind begins to wonder if it is coming for me or my family next. I know that it is connected to the traumatic events that I have experienced in my own life. I am also learning that catastrophizing is a thought process that I engage in. One that I wish I could let go of. It is challenging. I find myself in situations where I let it go, but it comes back. It is a process to realize that I can decide to stop catastrophizing. It involves me taking a deep breath. Naming where I am at and then moving forward.

I can tell myself I am not catastrophizing but simply preparing for the future. I am preparing to meet the moment. For example, in Spiiderman's No Way Home, Mary Jane said, If you expect disappointment, then you won't be disappointed. The truth is this. When I engage in catastrophizing, I am not preparing for the future. Instead, I am manufacturing fear and anxiety. This could be better. Instead, I need to choose to let go of it. In your day to day, what does letting go look like? I need to have a physical activity that represents letting go. One example is writing out my fears, tearing up the paper, and throwing it away. So the next time you hear the term, let it go and create a physical representation to assist you in accomplishing the task.