Let’s talk about catastrophic thinking or, “catastrophizing.” 

What is it? 

Well, it’s exactly what you are probably imagining it to be: thinking of a current or future situation as a catastrophe. In other words, it means assuming the worst-case-scenario. It is also an excellent way to make yourself stressed, anxious, or even depressed. 

Super fun topic, right? 

Maybe not, though it is an important one. 

A simple example would be when you are worrying about performing poorly in an upcoming race. Before the race even begins you are imagining what will happen when you do perform poorly. You’ll feel defeated, embarrassed, and incapable. You’ll let down your teammates and your coach. You will lose your scholarship, never rise to the standards you set for yourself, and you will forever be a failure. You will never have success in running again. 

All of a sudden a race that hasn’t even happened yet has become a horrible and unrecoverable event. That is catastrophizing. 

It may seem like a crazy thing to do, but so many of us are guilty of engaging with it (yours truly included).

So, why do we do it?

Oftentimes we engage in catastrophizing as a way of protecting ourselves. It sounds backwards, but hear me out…

Can you think of a time where you were caught off guard by bad news or a difficult experience? I certainly can, and the disappointment is not something I enjoyed or want to experience again.

So to prevent that feeling, I’ve occasionally found myself expecting the worst. This way, the let down won’t feel like such an intense blow because I am already prepared for it. I’ve already decided failure is inevitable.

It makes sense, but when this way of thinking becomes a repeated pattern it leads to trouble. Anticipating the worst invites the worst and when we think of our future as horrible and hopeless, motivation disappears because what’s the point in trying? We’ve failed before we even got to the starting line.

It’s an exhausting, unhelpful way of thinking and at the same time, it is not at all uncommon. You are not alone and you are not broken if you fit the description of a “catastrophizer,” and there are ways to challenge this way of thinking. 

If you are interested in working together to explore tools and techniques to challenge catastrophic thinking, contact me at sweeterstrides@gmail.com to set up a free 15-minute consultation.