Okay I’m gonna like info dump so apologies in advance:
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Like say: a doctor’s appointment…
You know when you’re a kid and everything is just set up by parents?
Then like fast forward… you’re an adult and parents are busy or something…
And then you’re like “Omg I’m alone… wh- wh- wha- what am I supposed to do…”
Okay I wasn’t alone, but my dad had to drive me there, but he doesn’t speak English so I’m pretty much alone in terms of navigating all that stuff…
And example #2: Passport…
The last time I got it was when I was a teen so everything was already done by mom…
(funny thing is I ended up never using the passport cuz we never had a chance to travel… mostly just had it as proof of citizenship…)
Now I wanna like travel (maybe, no concrete plans yet) and mom told me to get a passport so when she comes back from her trip, maybe we go to Canada or something, I always loved the idea of Canada.
So um… I just bring the documents its good right?
Oh wait, I have to bring a photo thingy since the appointment didn’t have the photo service…
wh–whe-where do I even go get that?
Oh shit the money order thing… wha- how- um… how much is it even exactly… oh fuck fuck fuck…
then my mind goes: I’m not gonna get all the stuff ready and miss the appointment and the next available one is like weeks away… shit… why is life so miserable?
mom is visiting China… so I’m just “alone” in the US… :/
I might have separation anxiety issues…
I’ll add that for not catastrophizing having a handful of realistic failure states in mind and accepting that it’s a possibility, you have a plan to deal with it, and that it’s ok is vital for me personally. It addresses that things may go wrong without falling into baseless fear and ensures that I don’t get overwhelmed if I screw up the form a third time.