I heard on the Swedish news that our dear neighbors in Norway had a bit of a bummer the other day.
About 40,000 Norwegians received an official message from Eurojackpot, a big lottery game across Europe, telling them they were millionaires. Turns out there was a sliiight miscalculation. The winnings had been calculated 10,000 times too high.
Some people even posted their million-dollar smiles on social media, only to be told later that they’d actually won about $11. For roughly 15 glorious minutes, though, they truly believed they were rich.
On the bright side, the joy they felt was just as intense as if it had been real.
The funny thing is, we often do the same thing, but in reverse.
We imagine worst-case scenarios about things that haven’t even happened yet. That upcoming job interview. Tomorrow’s presentation. Next week’s doctor’s appointment.
In our minds, we multiply the fear by 10,000 and slap on a million-dollar frown. It’s not real. It hasn’t happened. But the dread we feel? That part is very real.
And unlike those “lucky” Norwegians, it doesn’t always last just 15 minutes. It can go on for hours, even days.
We tell ourselves it’s smart to prepare for the worst, that it won’t hurt as much if we’ve already imagined it. But honestly, we often end up hurting ourselves more with that kind of thinking.
If we look back later and compare our imagined disaster to what actually happened, our version is almost always blown way out of proportion. Afterwards, we think, “What was I even so worried about?”
So next time something scary is coming up, pretend you’re a Norwegian millionaire instead. It’s healthier, and a lot more fun.