When bad things happen, I tell myself 'it could've been worse.'
Earlier today, one of my friend's and I chatted about how we tend to think of worst-case scenarios in case things don't go as planned. I thought I'd share why I imagine worst-case scenarios and a few stories.
Why I Imagine Worst-Case Scenarios
I was disappointed often as a young child. Promises and plans would be made to me by adults, but something would happen that kept adults from fulfilling their promises and plans from happening.
Imagining worst-case scenarios helped minimize the disappointment or sadness I felt when things went wrong or unplanned. It served as a coping or defense mechanism because there were no surprises.
Eventually, thinking of worst-case scenarios benefited me as an adult. I worked in technology for over a decade and quickly learned that all sorts of things could go wrong. This wasn't ideal when I traveled to give presentations.
I started getting in a habit of thinking, 'what's the worst that can happen if...' Those thoughts led me to create multiple backup plans for public presentations. I'd arrive to my destination with my presentations in multiple formats.
For example, my Microsoft PowerPoint presentations were created with and without animations, interactive elements, and embedded objects. I'd save my presentations in multiple formats and store them in multiple locations (e.g. laptop storage, cloud storage, flash drive).
In addition to thinking about worst-case scenarios related to technology, I'd also mentally prepare for other challenges such as that one participant who'd challenge my expertise and subject knowledge.
No matter what happened in real life, I felt prepared for the worst life threw at me.
My First Worst-Case Scenario Come True
I mentioned earlier that imagining worst-case scenarios helped minimize disappointment and sadness, but it didn't mean I never felt disappointed or sad. In fact, imagining a worst-case scenario that became a reality was a depressing feeling. It didn't happen much, but there were times when I imagined worst-case scenarios accurately. A good example of this happened not long after I got my first car.
My first car was a black Suzuki Aerio sedan when I was 21 years old. I loved my first car, as most first-time car owners would. I spent my hourly income on maintaining it and buying accessories to add my personal style to it.
One night I dreamed I'd get into an accident. When I awoke on a Saturday morning, I told my parents I didn't want to drive the 170 miles to pick up my grandmother and her sister to stay with us for a few months. I asked if I could go the next day instead. I explained that I worried about a worst-case scenario where we'd get into an awful car accident.
Since my Dad was going with me to pick up family, we drove the 170 miles that day despite my worries. I drove there, but asked Dad to take the wheel on the return drive back home. I felt he was a better, more experienced driver. I didn't want to put my grandmother and her sister, both in their late 70s at the time, at risk while they sat in the backseat. Dad was in the driver's seat and I sat next to him in the front passenger's seat. We were ready for our three- to four-hour return drive home.
On the drive home, we approached a massive grass fire along the right side of the highway. Firetrucks were on scene preventing the fire from crossing the highway, but the wind blew the thick smoke clouds over the road. Traffic slowed and switched to the fast lane on the left, as it should when emergency vehicles are present on the slow lane to the right.
All drivers ahead of us, including my Dad, turned on emergency flashers and headlights. We entered the thick smoke clouds unable to see anything other than the emergency flashers of the car ahead of us. Naturally, my heart was racing.
However, I think my heart stopped briefly when a speeding driver rear ended us. I vaguely remember it feeling like being hit from behind while driving bumper cars. I remember the smoke filling the inside of the car quickly. We all coughed and couldn't see anything. My Dad stopped where we were only because he couldn't see the road. It was scary because we weren't sure if we were still in the fast lane. We didn't know if another driver would rear end us because they couldn't see due to the thick smoke cloud.
After a few minutes, the smoke cleared long enough to get a grasp of our surroundings. I looked back to check on my grandmother and her sister to see the back windshield shattered. The left passenger door in the back was pushed inwards. My Dad spewed a few curses because we were pushed towards the right, completely off the highway, and close to almost rolling over into a ditch.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for emergency personnel to arrive since they were already nearby at the scene of the massive grass fire. The driver of the pickup truck that rear ended us was a good distance behind us in the median to the left of the fast lane. He pushed my car a significant distance away from the point of impact, according to police officers at the scene.
The pickup truck's bumper was ruined and needed to be replaced completely. He admitted that he was speeding and not paying close enough attention to emergency flashers ahead of him. He was alright and suffered no injuries.
My Suzuki Aerio was completely totaled. I was told it was beyond repair. I learned about crumple zones that day and how the crumple zones back by the trunk saved our lives. We were dazed and reported no injuries, although my grandmother did visit doctors for neck pain resulting from the accident.
The event scared me, but not as much as thinking, 'oh God, I worried this would happen.'
A Change in How I Imagined Worst-Case Scenarios
Police officers questioned us about the accident. Police officers, fire fighters, or medical personnel, I don't remember who, stayed with and observed my grandmother and her sister closely due to the shock they endured.
This was the first major accident I was a part of. I was in disbelief trying so hard to make sense of what happened. It felt surreal, but it was real.
One of the questions I was asked was "were you wearing a helmet?" That question threw off my train of thought. I was confused. My Dad made a joke that had him and the questioning officer break out into laughter. The office explained it was a question he had to ask even though he knew the answer. They continued laughing at a few jokes that came up during the questioning.
I didn't know what to make of the laughter. Mom taught me not to make light of bad situations, but there was Dad laughing at the jokes he made. Hours later when we retrieved all belongings from my four wheeled baby and hopped into a rental car, Dad continued cracking jokes that made myself, my grandmother, and her sister laugh on the way home. Surprisingly, he spoke about outrageously fictional worst-case scenarios that could've happened that day.
I asked Dad why he was so calm. I thought he'd say something like the Air Force instilled that mindset in airmen. Yet, he simply said, "it could've been worse." Dad explained that no matter how bad something was, I needed to remember that it could've been even worse.
We were alive and didn't need to make a trip to the hospital that day. Cars are replaceable, lives are not.
Dad's way of shedding light on a bad situation by speaking about outrageously fictional worst-case scenarios stuck with me. Thinking of outrageous worst-case scenarios proved to be helpful while dealing with stressful situations this past week.
My Thoughts
My Dad taught me to find the bright side of things and deal with challenging situations with a little humor. This came in handy yesterday and today as I faced a few challenges following some bad events.
While it may not work for everyone, my Dad and I share the same sense of humor and joked about recent events. I wrote stories describing the outrageously ridiculous worst-case scenarios for each event that's passed recently. Maybe I'll share these stories publicly one day, but as for now they're my private funny fictional renditions I'll laugh at in several years when I revisit my journal.
What's Next?
As soon as I post this, I'm going to play video games to de-stress and relax my mind. I'm prepared for something to go wrong tomorrow for a three-day streak of bad events. That'd be the worst case scenario at this point.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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