It starts with something small. An unexpected email from your boss with the subject line “Need to talk.” A traffic jam on the way to an important meeting. A late-night cough from your child’s bedroom.
Logically, you know these things are minor or temporary. But your brain doesn’t stop there. It races ahead: What if I’m in trouble? What if I miss the meeting and ruin everything? What if the cough means something serious?
Before long, a single cue has snowballed into a catastrophe that hasn’t even happened.
Why does this happen? Why do our minds treat small setbacks as if they’re life-threatening? The answer lies in evolutionary mismatch — instincts forged in dangerous, unpredictable environments now misfiring in the relative safety of modern life.
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