and	challenges	that	no	one	is	
immune
	
to,	e.g.,	“Thanksgiving	with	the	family
is	going	to	be	hard	to	get	through	this	year.”	The	highly	anxious	mind
compounds	these	difficulties	by	extending	them	out	across	time	and	over	a
variety	of	situations:	“Every	time	I’m	with	my	family,	I	get	stressed	out.”
Even	worse,	the	anxious	mind	convinces	us	that	we	won’t	be	able	to	cope
with	the	thing	we	dread:	“I	can’t	go	to	any	more	family	functions,	it’s	too
upsetting.”	As	a	result,	we	spin	our	wheels	trying	to	prevent	feared	situations,
emotions,	and/or	interactions	by	avoiding	people	and	events	that	don’t
actually	pose	a	real	threat.	Of	course,	in	reality,	there’s	only	so	much	control
we	have	over	the	course	of	events,	and	so	all	this	anxious	energy	results	in	us
feeling	at	the	mercy	of	life,	powerless,	and	desperate	to	find	relief.
When	we	overgeneralize,	we	develop	conclusions	about	ourselves,	our
emotions,	and	what	we	can	and	can’t	do	based	on	a	single	experience.	For
instance,	Carmen	found	out	she	didn’t	get	her	desired	work	promotion	and
concludes:	“I’ll	never	get	promoted.”	Nolan	had	a	couple	of	unfulfilling	dates
and	concludes:	“I’ll	never	meet	the	right	one.”