Morning Catastrophizing

December 9th, 2025

I awoke today, like most days, with an immense sense of dread. Why do I rise soaked in negativity? Everything will fail, I will never make a reasonable living, I won’t find a new apartment after my landlord increased it yet again, I’m too tired to keep pushing, I fear so much, I cannot afford to support loved ones. On and On.

What is this morning catastrophizing? Where did it come from? How do I get rid of it? In noticing this tremendous negativity bias, I immediately began to invert them, telling myself the following:

These thoughts are of an unproven future. You have managed to withstand every scenario you've encountered to date. Why not these, too? You were nourished negativity since birth, and you are smart enough to realize that. Conclude from this not to fully trust nor believe in your thoughts at this moment. Gauge them, and decide whether they are true, as if you are assessing the words of a compulsive liar. Wash them away, get up, and begin the day. Go easy, don't panic -- it is unnecessary. 

Every single day, people like us need to lift this heavy load off our chest before we get our day rolling. That’s what it is. That’s your life. That’s your mind. Accept it, and keep fighting.

If you immediately trust your mind’s projections in the form of thoughts, instead of assessing and verifying them first, you may as well admit you trust a liar. Not only do you accept the lies, but you also enjoy them — the only conclusion to be reached based on the fact that you do it all the time. In this way, even those who claim their adherence to hard science, the scientific method, testable phenomena and repeatable results, each of us believes an internal liar without any verification, validation, and all that wind. And it’s hard not to, I understand it. It happens to me each day. Keep this phenomenon in mind; that your reactions, beliefs, and catastrophizing have nothing to do with truth. When we hold firm to these illusory thoughts, we become full of anxiety.

For all the reasons your mind drags you into negativity, you must out-reason it. Do your best to not seed your own future negativity, nor the negativity of others, unless entirely necessary. Good luck out there.