Jump to Conclusions Mat

I tend to over-react. Ask JSS, he can tell you.

For example: I can't log in to my email, and I freak out, deciding that I'm being bugged by the CIA.

Or: I call a friend and he/she doesn't call me back within 15 minutes. I decide they hate me for some crime I don't realize I've committed, and I rack my brains for an hour, trying to figure out what I've done and how I can make amends.

Or: I email my brother and don't hear back from him for a few days. I decide he must have choked on some Pasta-roni and is in the hospital, or worse.

I wish I could just chalk this up to some quirk in my personality and laugh it off. The problem comes when my paranoia actually predicts something accurately. This makes all my freak-outs seem not insane, or mildly amusing, but omens to be believed. I never know when one of them will actually come true, but I think that I somehow believe that the worrying will make these events LESS likely to come to fruition.

For example: if I worry that I've accidentally tossed a check in the trash, and that I forgot to lock my car door, and that I've lost my favorite necklace, it's impossible that all of those things will come true. Therefore, I can surmise, my fretting has actually PREVENTED these events from happening. And, if one of them DOES occur, then clearly I didn't worry enough.

Sigh.

It's amazing I'm able to wake up each day without the sky falling on me.