Good morning, fuzzbutts!

Ever have that problem where you suddenly have an unwanted expense and you can’t help but realize that now you won’t be able to afford rent and now you’re going to be homeless and then you’re going to never recover and then you’re going to die alone? From some smaller incident, you suddenly realize your entire world is going to crash down around you? Yeah it gets to the best of us!

It’s actually pretty common. Here’s one I had gone through a while back. I had just moved out on my own and was learning how to make my way. While driving from the gym, a rock was kicked up by a truck and chipped my windshield. It was a tiny chip, like maybe 1/8th the size of a dime. My mind couldn’t help but spiral out of control. That chip has to be fixed. I have to pay to get it fixed and take time out to take it somewhere. I won’t be able to afford rent this month (without having a clue how expensive the repair would be). I made a huge mistake moving out on my own. I’m going to have to tuck my tail between my legs, lose all my money, and move back in with the folks and never recover. Oh boy. All this from what turned out to be a $35 repair and a little over an hour at a repair shop. At the time, this calamity made perfect sense because I wasn’t aware of one tool that would have helped then and still helps me now when things get rough.

First, something happens and you can feel your mind slipping into “Oh NO!” mode. When this happens, pull out a piece of paper, scrap paper or not, and then write out the catastrophe. Then, thinking as horrible and dark as you can, write one or two of the worst possible outcomes from this situation. Finally, write five more reasonable outcomes from this situation. They’re not as bad as you think. Are there any good possibilities from this situation (I’ve never had to deal with this kind of repair before so now it’s a new experience)? By the time you’re done writing the more realistic outcomes, you’re feeling a lot better. Lastly, write out something you can do in this situation (notify insurance and find repair shops).

Fuzzbutts, if you do this, you’ll find the stressful situations in life can often be less stressful, preserving your mind and your health. Give this a shot the next time the apocalypse decides to drop into your lap. Good luck out there fuzzbutts!

Edit: Also wanted to give a shout out to my friend BoxCat aka Boz aka BoseCat for the new icon. I commissioned a new logo for my site and business cards and they did an awesome job!