I've just been slammed with work and other big decisions and mostly afraid that if I make a wrong choice I will end up losing my shirt and living in a soggy cardboard box on the street. I realize that the odds of that are unlikely. But if you've spent more than 2.5 seconds here, you've probably noticed that I live in the Land of Worst-Case Scenarios and I believe that if I spend some time hashing out every possible bad outcome, then maybe they won't come to fruition after all. I know this is not logical, but it helps me sleep at night.
I'm still reading, though!
I subscribe to a related theory, involving overanalysis of all possible outcomes, highlighting all the worst possibles. I don't think it affects my ability to sleep, but it definitely affects my joie de vivre. There's nothing fun about big decisions.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your fish.
Yeah, I can totally relate. Is there such a thing as worser-case scenario? That's what I'm all about these days.
ReplyDeleteDo you think worrying is cultural? I feel like me and my Desi peeps are particularly good at it.
ReplyDeleteWorrying sucks. Inventing worst case scenarios takes a lot of time. I do that, too.
ReplyDeleteI did just finish listening to The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner/ Divorce Guide, by Jill Conner Browne and that ended with some words I found helpful.
"Tiaras on, ass out, tits up! You're gonna be alright, darling'."
You're in the Land of Worst-Case Scenarios too? Why haven't we bumped into each other yet? We could worry together, my scenarios are getting kind of stale. I need new disasters to ponder over.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with things at work!
"Filing TPS reports from the office in the sky" HA!
ReplyDeleteSee, it's good humor like that that will get you through whatever tough times might come. You'll be just fine.
hold on and hang on!!
ReplyDeletethanks, everybody. it's really good to know that i'm not the only resident in Land of Worst-Case Scenarios. And if there were a worser-case scenario place, i'm sure i'd vacation there.
ReplyDeletei know that guilt is a major desi thing, and from what i gather, guilt and worry go together like pb and j; whenever you've got one, the craving for the other doesn't stop till you get enough. which is never, of course.
i'll have to check that book out, sphincter. after about twenty bazillion people recommended it to me, i'm reading eat, pray love in hopes that all that meditative stuff would inspire me. but the woman seems to be even more neurotic than i am so it's helping, but not how i had thought it would. but i have to admit, once i found out it's been Oprah-endorsed, the air leaked out of my balloon for it just a little bit.
syar, i'm totally down for worrying with you anytime. but i warn you, my worst-case-scenario imagination is pretty overactive. i don't know if i'd want to be responsible for poisoning you with thoughts of natural disaster and world-wide depression after which we must fight American gladiator-style for enough gas to get to the SuperTarget.
American-gladiator style? SuperTarget? There is so much I have yet to learn, Worrier Guru. :)
ReplyDeleteHey, btw, I'm wondering : is Eat, Pray, Love really all that and a bag of chips? It's just that Oprah loves it so darn much so now I'm curious. I watched the special with the author, and it wasn't anything special (to me).
it's like anything surrounded by a bunch of hype; unable to live up to those kinds of expectations. i had been hearing about this book since last fall, but didn't get around to it until last week, which was unfortunate for me because i probably would have enjoyed it more without the the buzz.
ReplyDeletethat said, it reads like a blog post, in that it's very personal and i find certain things she says easy to relate to (the worry, paranoia, always following the rules and finding that it's not as rewarding as promised). also, the idea that someone can literally pick herself up off the floor when everything seems to be crumbling and believe in something enough to get to a better place is appealing—especially when she divulges that it's not as easy as it sounds, but that it can be done.
i'm about 2/3 of the way through and my only beef is that it's a little too much in her head, but what else can i expect from a memoir? i'd recommend it to you, syar, as you're embarking on this big adventure. but if you do pick it up, try and forget what anyone said about it and let it do the work on its own.
If you do ever lose your shirt, let me know. I'll be happy to send you a replacement.
ReplyDelete...
Blog post fodder! You lost your shirt; ask readers to describe and/or link what they'd send you as replacements.
:-)