If you fixate on the worst-case scenario and it actually happens, you’ve lived it twice.
Interpretation
Worrying about negative outcomes can lead to unnecessary suffering.
This quote by Michael J. Fox emphasizes the idea that when you dwell on the worst possible outcomes of a situation, you not only experience the anxiety and fear of that outcome in your mind but also, if it comes true, you endure that reality again. Thus, the overthinking and fixation on negativity can cause you to suffer far more than the actual situation warrants.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming fear and anxiety.
I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility.
My whole life, meeting people is like a blind date, because I feel like they've already seen the video on me.
There are no moments you have frozen in amber. It's moving, it's changing, so appreciate what's good about right now and be ready for what's next.
There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums.
Certainly people have a lot tougher situations than I've had to deal with. But I will say we are all dying from the moment we are born. This is not just rehearsal.
I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm an activist, I'm a writer and I'm just a student of the world.
He felt that he was himself and did not wish to be anyone else. He only wished now to be better than he had been formerly
The unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others.
If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are.
If you get the dirty end of the stick, sharpen it and turn it into a useful tool.
It’s possible, I’m moving through the hard veins of heavy mountains, like an arc, alone; I’m so deep inside, I see no end in sight, and no distance: everything is getting near and everything near is turning to stone.
If I look confused it is because I am thinking.
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