[boatsie]

There’s a fictional story about a girl going off to college and writing a letter to her parents (pre internet days). She laments about getting injured, her dormitory catching fire, and getting pregnant. But at the end of the letter, she reveals that none of those things happened and in reality she is just getting some bad grades.

Even though it’s not real, I find this kind of framing to be useful in real life situations. When something bad happens, it can easily feel like that was the worst possible thing that could have happened. And your reaction might match that feeling. But the reality is if you’re still alive, it probably wasn’t such a big deal and you think about it in the context of what would actually be the worst thing that could have happened.

[azundo]

Another similar framing I sometimes use is to think about how many people in the world would gladly switch places with me and have my problems instead of theirs. Helps to remind myself to keep things in perspective.