CH
	
APTER	EIGHT
Thoughts	vs.	Reality
Don’t	Believe	Everything	You	Think
You,	your	resilience,	and	your	capacity	for	growth	are	actually	much	stronger
than	your	anxious	thoughts—although	it	probably	doesn’t	feel	like	that	most
of	the	time.	For	the	anxious	mind,	a	flood	of	worry	can	rise	in	a	matter	of
minutes,	sweeping	you	away	to	a	place	where	what	began	as	a	passing
thought	becomes	in	your	head	an	absolute	truth.	If	you	watch	your	thoughts
carefully,	you	will	catch	yourself	jumping	to	extremes	and	generalizations.
Imagine	you	get	a	ticket	for	a	minor	fender	bender	and	then	you	have	the
thought,	“What	if	they	sue	me?”	Anxiety	quickly	evolves	that	thought	into,
“They	
are
	
going	to	sue	me!”	Or	say	you	get	some	negative	feedback	at	work
and	have	the	thought,	“My	boss	sees	problems	with	my	work.”	Anxiety	steps
in,	and	the	thought	
becomes,
	
“I’m	going	to	get	fired.”	Or	you	realize	your
mom	hasn’t	returned	your	phone	calls	and	you	wonder	why.	Anxiety	turns
wondering	into,	“She	must	have	had	an	accident.”	Or	you	realize	your	partner
hasn’t	returned	a	text	all	day	and	you	worry,	“My	partner	doesn’t	care	about