My father is quarantined for 2 weeks. He tested positive for Covid-19. Yesterday was the first day that I didn’t see him throughout an entire day while at home: he didn’t eat dinner with us; he didn’t go to work; he didn’t spend time with my younger brother; I didn’t hear his voice. Going through this gave me a scary thought: what would I do if my father was no longer around? What would my family do? How much time would I have to give up to help support my family while I’m in college? Having these thoughts made me feel uncomfortable. But they’re necessary to prepare me for the worst-case scenario. The worst thing that could happen is not knowing what to do when faced with a difficult situation.
By continuously thinking about uncomfortable situations that would change the direction of my life, I’m forced to come up with solutions that would reduce the severity of the problem and turn it into an opportunity. It’s easy to confuse this with pessimism, which is having the tendency of seeing the worst in things or believing that everything will go wrong. But what I think about goes beyond pessimism and into problem-solving. I don’t lose hope thinking about situations negatively; I gain strength thinking about situations opportunistically. I see hardships as opportunities to better myself.
I grew up seeing situations negatively so I’m accustomed to such thinking— it became a habit. I imagined myself becoming blind; I imagined myself losing a limb, more specifically my right arm; I imagined myself losing my family members in an accident or being impoverished; I imagined myself having cancer; I imagined myself being paralyzed. I continue imagining myself in various situations that would make it increasingly difficult to achieve my goals. Although I can’t say I fully prepared myself for them physically or financially, I have prepared myself mentally and emotionally because I steeled my resolve.
I’m not the first to come up with this way of thinking. In fact, this way of thinking dates back to ancient Greece and ancient Rome. It’s called premeditatio malorum, or negative visualization. Negative visualization is an exercise of imagining things that could go wrong or be taken away from us. The purpose is to prepare for life’s potential setbacks and develop resilience. It’s what I was unknowingly practicing during my teenage years.
The benefits of negative visualization are abundant as it forces us to be appreciative of what we have. But the downside of this practice could make people feel more anxious and scared. It’s a double-edged sword that depends on the person using it. It’s natural to feel more anxious in the beginning, then feel appreciative the more you practice. It takes time to become comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Negative visualization will prepare us for the unpredictability of life. It’s impossible not to feel shocked when something unexpected happens. But with practice, we can reduce the severity and pain that comes with it when it does.
TAKEAWAY: Practice imagining the unimaginable so that you’re prepared for whatever life throws at you.
Here’s my inspiration for the day.