On the second episode of Jay Morrison’s Jay Walk YouTube series he advises everyone to “Stop Being Scared of Ghosts” (see video here).
This is really good advice that almost everyone needs to hear. What he was talking about is the tendency of people to be afraid of things that might happen. Too many of us stress over potential bad news or negative outcomes.
Don’t be afraid of things before they actually happen
This is the main point of the video and relates closely to the first episode of his Jay Walk series.
(Read first post on the series here.)
If you don’t know what’s going to happen then there’s no point in being scared. It may never happen at all.
Until something happens it isn’t even real. If it isn’t real then that makes it a ghost. Don’t be afraid of ghosts.
Maybe you haven’t visited a doctor in years because you’re afraid that they’ll “find something”.
That’s silly.
Freaking out about possibly having a terminal illness before seeing a doctor is pointless. There are a lot of diseases out there that you can drive yourself crazy just thinking about all of them. Even if you were sick, you probably only have one.
At least find out which one it is!
That way you can deal with reality and let go of fear.
The thought of inflicted wounds is deeper than the wound itself. -Jay Morrison
Don’t make up stories in your head
Imagining worst-case scenarios beforehand is counter-productive. Most of the time our imagined worst-case scenario doesn’t even make sense.
Even if you live paycheck to paycheck and you lose your job that doesn’t mean you’re going to be homeless within the next twenty-four hours!
It’s good to plan for worst-case scenarios so you can be prepared but you shouldn’t be frozen in fear.
The thought of inflicted wounds is deeper than the wound itself. -@MrJayMorrison Click To Tweet
You don’t know what’s behind that door.
You don’t know if a seller is going to get mad if you offer them less than they’re asking for their house.
You don’t know what another person is thinking or how they’re going to react to bad news or a mistake that you’ve made.
You’ll just cause yourself unnecessary stress worrying over stuff before it happens.
Don’t stress yourself out over nothing
I can’t tell you how many times in the past that I thought I was in trouble at work.
Sometimes I would get called to my boss’ office and had no idea why I was being called. Then I’d be worried the entire time before I got there. I’d think I was in trouble for something or even worse, was about to get fired.
Even the few times it turned out to be something bad it was nowhere near as bad as I imagined. It hardly ever turned out to be bad at all.
Stop being scared of ghosts. -MyJayMorrison Click To TweetOne thing I’ve learned over the years is that everyone makes mistakes and it’s amazing how quickly people will forget your mistakes.
Worst-case scenarios hardly ever happen. Constantly worrying about them will just cause you to waste time stressing out over nothing.
Think of all the times that you imagined something bad that never even happened. Think about how it made you feel physically and how silly you felt afterwords.
In conclusion
Stop being afraid of things that haven’t happened yet and therefore aren’t real. Stop imagining that everything’s going to end in a negative way. Stop stressing yourself out.
Stop being scared of ghosts.
Tell us in the comments what “ghost” you’re going to stop being afraid of this year.
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