I couldn’t touch it.
It would take days to figure out.
My last year’s taxes were messed up and now…a big, fat penalty.
I didn’t know where to begin.
The backup? The expenses? The donations? Do I still have my bank statements? Should I track down the accountant? When will I deal with this monstrosity?
Crap…this will totally impact my business…I may as well cancel our vacay now too.
The anxiety running through my mind at 3:48am, weighing me down every morning, lurking throughout the day.
I just couldn’t get myself to touch it.
Finally, weeks later I mustered up the courage to start making sense of this beast.
I typed in the URL, clicked through a few prompts, and then was directed to the payment page.
Wait, what??!
There it was.
All that stood between me and my grueling tax nightmare was my credit card number and a submit button. And it was done.
Weeks of agonizing…completely behind me in about 4 minutes.
Can you relate? If so, then you’re all too familiar with the creeping “C”: Catastrophizing.
AKA: Making things a much bigger deal in our heads than they are in real life.
Do you waste a lot of time fretting over impending doom?
It can happen with anything from paying a bill to fielding a customer service call.
Yes, sometimes the consequence is a doozy and becomes an ordeal.
But often, things aren’t as bad or as big of a deal as we make them out to be.
So what do you do about it?
Instead of getting stressed out and overwhelmed by what might be in store for you, simply focus on the next step so you can figure out what is in store for you.
You can continue to catastrophize how long something’s gonna take and how hard or painful it might be OR you could take the next action and come to terms with reality.
Spoiler Alert: It’s often a lot less dramatic in the real world.
By putting it off, you make the task or project even more dreaded and stress-inducing.
There are a hundred ways we unnecessarily let catastrophizing add stress to our lives.
- too many lists
- countless distractions
- not enough systems
- lack of resources
- lingering to-do’s
- scattered ideas
- unrealistic expectations
- not enough planning
…just to name a few.
All of these can appear bigger than they really are.
How amazing would it be to normalize dreadful tasks so you take action instead of snowballing into gloom and doom?
On a scale of 1-10, it’s like a 12.
But you’ve got to muster up your courage.
To stop catastrophizing.
Stop thinking about all the reasons it won’t work or will be too hard.
Start thinking about why it has to work and how you can simplify it.
But mostly, take the first step.
Do one thing. Make a list, create an outline, send a text, write a draft, make the call, ask a question.
It’s your move. What’s it gonna be?
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