So I tend to catastrophize a lot, especially when it's about my parents' health. Some of you might know that feeling of when your mind latches onto a what if... What if appa slips and falls in the bathroom? What if amma has a heart attack? That sort of thing.

And like tonight,

when my father's not feeling very well, I end up feeling so bad that I can't get myself to sleep. I've learnt a few techniques that work to minimise and sometimes completely put to rest this feeling, and just wanted to share those:

1. It really helps when I reaffirm my trust in

future me. The reason I can't sleep is because my mind's like what if he needs your help and you're asleep and can't hear him call out? At such times, I have to know that future me is as capable,if not more, of handling any emergencies well, better than sleep-deprived, anxious

present me. My brain has to logically work out that yes, my future self is equipped and that I won't be unprepared and utterly useless, which is one of my worst nightmares. So helps to take a deep breath and envision a capable, prepared future version of you who can handle any

eventuality.

2. I've found that instead of dwelling on my worst fears, mentally planning for them in case they occur helps me feel prepared and feeds into my belief in future me (strengthening point 1). What would be the best way to handle this eventuality, I ask myself, and the

clarity of the answer makes me feel less unmoored and more grounded. Sometimes in this process I realise steps I can take to prevent the fear (Fear of someone slipping? A non-stop bathmat might help!) Then I make a mental note to get that done the next day, so I have A Plan.

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3. I find it helps to tell myself this sort of catastrophising is a normal thing many people feel. The more you read about this, the more you understand how your brain works and the better you can call its bluff. Being absolutely sure that this is an anxiety thing and that it's

got more to do with my brain than with what actually might or might not happen really helps shelve it in a more distant convenient-to-handle intellectual pigeonhole rather than make it a fearful physical (heart pounding, fidgetty, stomach queasy) immediate response.

4. Those are

all things to do WHEN you're catastrophising, but here's something that helps for when you know you have that habit but are currently in a calmer mood. I find it really useful to mentally catalogue my worst fears and to discuss them with the people involved themselves. For me

this works because my fears usually involve harm happening to the people close to me. So I can talk to them and assure myself that they're not helpless subjects of my assistance (as my scared brain makes them out to be) but that they have the agency, will and their own strengths

to rely on that will aid them in case I'm not around (soon enough) to help. It's essential to understand this, that we don't carry the weight of the entire world on our shoulders alone, to unburden the brain from trying to prepare to carry the world by itself. (It can't, and

it knows it can't, but it tries anyway and that's just setting yourself up for failure and, worse sometimes, dreadful anticipation of that failure.) Knowing when to let go, that some things are not yours to fix, that you're not at the centre of everything is crucial to choosing

where and when to focus your energies in a way that's best for you and everyone else involved.

(These are just some helpful personal strategies I remembered; I'm not a therapist!)

Anyway, I feel much calmer now that I've put everything into words, so I suppose point

5. should

just be a suggestion that articulating your fears and thought process and in generally walking yourself through the landscape of your mind can help put things into perspective and calm you down. It certainly helped me!

Thanks for listening, folks. Feeling MUCH better!

Oh last tweet in this thread. If you too have this sort of anxiety, let me know if you've found any strategies effective against it.

LAST LAST tweet in this thread, I promise! Another thing that helps is to consciously the next day/morning after that bout of catastrophising note how worried you were the previous day and why you needn't have been worried. Helps as a perspective-giving memory for the next time.