“Don’t forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else.”
Paulo Coelho
When faced with difficulties and trials from amongst the never ending trials of life, its easy to let our assessment of the situation wander and present the situation as much worse than it is.
Worrying about a situation may mean that we could start thinking of all the possible consequences of the one single bad thing that has occurred. This in turn only induces more worry and stress, a vicious cycle indeed.
Advice here from Paulo Coelho states that we should consciously remember that everything that comes our way is only what it is by default, nothing more. This sounds like common knowledge, but when you realise how easily we tend to extrapolate our fears it makes a lot more sense.
When any of us receive bad news, perhaps about a loved one, we immediately turn to what the worst case scenario could be. This is most easily observed with Parents and their children. While the immediate high level of concern is more than natural (especially for Parents), its important to note that this can otherwise cause more issues when not cautiously reigned in.
This isn’t to say that concern isn’t useful, it allows us to judge a dangerous or abnormal situation and prepare ourselves to deal with it. The downside is when we think too badly of a situation, giving it more thought than it deserves.
Marcus Aurelius also mentions similar sentiments when he said:
“Nothing but what you get from first impressions. That someone has insulted you, for instance. That—but not that it’s done you any harm. The fact that my son is sick—that I can see. But “that he might die of it,” no. Stick with first impressions. Don’t extrapolate. And nothing can happen to you.”
Keeping your understanding of the situation in check means you will also reign in any fear or sense of vulnerability which may automatically rise.
Don’t extrapolate from a bad situation, keep it simple.