Are you sometimes guilty of catastrophizing? Some of you might not be familiar with the term so I’ll define it for you. It is the tendency to imagine the worst possible outcome when there isn’t really any evidence that anything bad will happen. It can cause us the spiral down a rabbit hole of negative emotions. Remember Chicken Little who said the sky was falling? He was likely a catastrophizer. Let’s learn more about catastrophic thinking and how to overcome it.
As a sidenote, not really sure if catastrophe is named after a cat but sure sounds like it. My cat was naughty and knocked over the Christmas tree a few times. And there were those hairballs… But I digress as I often do.
My mom was a catastrophizer. She often seemed to jump to the worst-case scenario. As an example, she was having a problem with her eye, so she started worrying and, before I knew it, she was trying to figure out how she was going to function when she went blind. I am guilty of doing this at times even though I know better. It typically happens when I am in an anxious state of mind (which unfortunately is a fair amount lately). In a recent example, I couldn’t get in touch with my daughter, and started down a rabbit hole which ended with imagining that something terrible had happened to her.
Catastrophizing dates back to the Old Testament. Here are a few examples:
- Elijah was fleeing Jezebel’s wrath. (1 Kings 19) In his exhaustion, discouragement, and fear, he asked God to take his life. Instead, God gave him food and sleep to recharge. In a later interaction with God, he said that all of Israel had forsaken God and only he was still faithful and that, as a result, he probably would not live much longer.
- The Israelites were finally on the verge of reaching the promised land after 40 years of wandering in the desert. (Numbers 13:1) Twelve spies were sent to survey the land and ten came back and said that the land was perfect but there was no way they could defeat the giant Canaanites. They concluded that the promised land was out of their grasp.
With the state of the world and mental health right now, my guess would be that there is extra catastrophizing going on.
Here are some suggestions that may help when you are in catastrophizing mode.
- Notice when you are doing it
Once you are aware, you can do something about it. Recognize signs like feeling overwhelmed, helpless, and hopeless about the future. - Dialogue with yourself
Ask yourself things like –
*What is the worst-case scenario and how much evidence is there to support that it will happen?
*What is the best-case scenario?
*What is the most likely scenario?
*Am I trusting God to handle it? (HINT – if you are catastrophizing the answer would be NO) - Calm yourself down
Breathe deeply! I like to do square breathing where you breathe in for the count of four, hold for four, breathe out for four, and hold for four. Keep going until you calm down. - Pray
Meditate and pray on Romans 8:31-39. Verse 35 includes every type of catastrophe imaginable and affirms that none of them can separate us from the love of God!
A final thought from Chicken Little – who for some reason has three eyes.
REFLECT:
Do you sometimes catastrophize? What will you do to try to overcome this tendency?
