We've all experienced it at least once: a minor inconvenience suddenly turns into the end of the world. The bus is late — and in your mind, you are already missing an important meeting, losing your job, and watching your whole life fall apart. Or perhaps you feel a slight chest pain — and your brain instantly paints a vivid picture of a heart attack. Sound familiar? This isn't just "overcaution." It is a built-in mechanism inherited from our ancestors, and it works so efficiently that sometimes it simply forgets to turn off.

Why Do We Love the Worst-Case Scenarios So Much?

In psychology, this phenomenon is known as negativity bias. Our brains are evolutionarily wired to pay significantly more attention to the bad than to the good. Why? Because in ancient times, missing a sign of danger meant death. It was evolutionarily safer to get scared ten times for nothing than to overlook a predator just once.

Studies consistently show that negative events affect us more strongly and deeply than positive ones of the same intensity. For example, stinging criticism is remembered far longer than glowing praise. Neuroscientific experiments measuring brain activity (such as with EEG) demonstrate that negative stimuli trigger a much stronger and faster electrical response in the brain. This tendency is visible even in infants: they fixate longer on angry faces and react more intensely to "negative" stimuli compared to neutral or positive ones.

When catastrophizing kicks in — a common cognitive distortion where we blow a problem up to epic proportions — things get even worse. It is as if your brain starts playing an internal trailer for a horror movie: "What if...?" it asks, and immediately draws the scariest possible ending. Evolutionarily, this acts like a biological "smoke detector": nature decided it is better to have lots of false alarms than one missed fire.

But There's Another Side: You've Already Won

Now, let's look at your life from a different angle. How many times in the past have you thought "this is the end," only for everything to eventually pass? Those problems that once seemed insurmountable — a painful breakup, failing a crucial exam, a financial crisis — now often look like mere episodes in your history. You went through them and came out stronger.

Psychology calls this resilience — the ability to recover from difficulties. Research shows that almost everyone possesses this ability to some degree. For instance, in long-term studies of children who grew up in incredibly tough conditions (such as the loss of parents or extreme poverty), many became successful, well-adjusted adults thanks to internal and external resources: support from at least one caring person, natural optimism, or developed problem-solving skills.

There is also a deeper concept known as post-traumatic growth. This is the phenomenon where, after serious trauma, a person doesn't just return to their baseline but actually becomes better than before. Many people, after navigating major life events (serious illness, loss of loved ones), report a deeper gratitude for existence, stronger interpersonal relationships, and shifted priorities. Researchers Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun found that 70-90% of people who experienced trauma report at least one aspect of growth: a new view of possibilities, greater empathy, or a deepened spiritual life.

If you look at the data, your "success rate" is actually 100%. You are here, alive, and reading this. You have successfully navigated and overcome every single one of your previous "catastrophes."

How to Shift the Focus from Horror to Reality

To stop your brain from looping the same scary movie, it is helpful to learn to live in the present moment. Mindfulness helps turn off the anxiety autopilot. Extensive studies show that regular mindfulness practice reduces cortisol levels, stress, and depression, while simultaneously improving concentration and overall well-being.

You can try simple exercises: a few times a day, pause and pay attention to your breathing, the physical sensations in your body, or the specific sounds around you. Don't judge — just observe. It is like hitting the "pause" button on your internal film projector.

Furthermore, when you catch yourself catastrophizing, try a technique from cognitive restructuring (a core part of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Ask yourself these specific questions:

• What is the actual probability that the worst-case scenario will happen? (Hint: It is usually very low.)
• What did I do in similar situations before? How did I cope in the past?
• What is the evidence? List the facts "for" and "against" your scary thought.

The Ending You Choose

Your brain is a brilliant protector, but sometimes it overacts. It paints catastrophes to keep you safe but often forgets to remind you of all the victories you have already achieved. You are not just surviving — you are growing, adapting, and becoming stronger with every challenge.

The next time anxiety tries to turn on another "horror movie," remember: you have watched many of these films before, and you have always come out alive. And now, you have the power to consciously choose a different genre — one where the hero wins not despite the challenges, but because of them.

You'll be fine. Because you've always been fine.

References

• Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology. (This is the foundational paper establishing that bad events have a greater impact on our psychological state than good ones).
• Nesse, R. M. (2005). Natural Selection and the Regulation of Defenses: A Signal Detection Analysis of the Smoke Detector Principle. Evolution and Human Behavior. (Explains the evolutionary basis for why our anxiety systems are prone to "false alarms").
• Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence. Psychological Inquiry. (The seminal work defining how trauma can lead to positive psychological change).
• Vaish, A., Grossmann, T., & Woodward, A. (2008). Not all emotions are created equal: The negativity bias in social-emotional development. Psychological Bulletin. (A review demonstrating that the tendency to prioritize negative stimuli appears early in infancy).