85% of what we worry about never happens..

Five hundred years ago, Michel de Montaigne said: „My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.“

I’ve just read an article sharing this percentage information found out in studies. And I mean, yes.. I can totally imagine this to be true. How often do we imagine worst-case scenarios in our head that in the end never occur? At least I do, that’s one of my main struggles and the reason I worry so much all the time. I worry about things that will probably never happen!

Anyway, personally I think it can be positive or negative to imagine the worst-case scenario:

It’s negative when these imaginations lead to anxiety and keep you from making decisions and living your life.

However, it’s positive when you imagine the worst just to discover that it’s not even THAT horrible. And even if fit is – if it‘s super annoying, stressful, expensive, hurtful, whatever.. every situation can be dealed with somehow. It’s not the end of the world and life will go on. Already having a plan for the worst situation (that’s so unlikely to happen anyway..) in the back of your mind can also help. This always leads to acceptance and makes life so much easier for me personally. I can tell myself „okay, if it happens, it happens and I’ll be able to deal with it somehow, I won’t die“.

For me the struggle is to always remember this and to live in the moment more. I can’t predict what’s gonna happen in the future anyway. I can only make plans and if they don’t work out the way I want them to and if the worst thing possible happens, well.. that’s life, I guess?

So, as wise Hagrid already said „What’s comin‘ will come, an‘ we’ll meet it when it does.“ (Harry Potter, you know..)