Word of the day -- catastrophizing. This word is used in mental health to explain the thought processes that expect everything to turn out bad and not just bad, but the worst bad it could be. I encountered this in a few areas of my day -- not in my own thinking, but in the words of those around me. Midterms are happening next week for my classes and for several other courses. There have been some expressions of anxiety over this great unknown. What to study, review, and read are key questions. Study skills may not be strong for everyone when faced with the material covered in the past six weeks. Another event created major angst. An online quiz was open for 24 hours and many worked on this today when the internet connection to campus went down yet again. The silly software program submitted the unfinished quiz so the recorded grades are not what they should be. I'll have to find a way to manage a makeup quiz for several who were affected by this. The other major concern was about the way the classroom management software calculates 'grades' -- the percentages that it tries to present are never correct. The numbers for the grades are correct. Ignoring the percentages may seem difficult, but it needs to be adopted.
While these may not be huge life issues on the surface, for many they are concerns that can become overwhelmingly large when thinking gets turned sideways. We all have days or experiences that seem filled with a rising sense of panic. Today it was my turn to work to calm others rather than running around finding someone or something to calm me. Good that it wasn't a bad day for me, too -- that would have been a catastrophe <smile>.
To add to the feeling of fear that surrounds exams and quizzes, the weather was turning this afternoon. Perhaps the drop in barometric pressure is sensed unconsciously and leads to heightened anxiety. For those listening to the weather forecasts, it has been difficult to walk away without feeling panicked. The grocery store was extremely busy today when I went for my big grocery run. For many that was the 'stock up before the storm' shopping trip. The cashier said it had been steadily busy all day. While eating supper, I listened to the weather reports which made things sound dire. Granted, it is serious and people should stay off the roads and away from shorelines, but one forecaster on the television stated that Atlantic Canada was in for "48 hours of meteorological misery.' The storm is fast moving. It is not hanging around for 48 hours anywhere -- but it will take almost that long to traverse from southern Nova Scotia to northern Newfoundland. That is not uncommon. What happens here today hits NL tomorrow. After seeing the protracted snow falls in BC this past week, viewers may feel excess anxiety when they hear '48 hours' when discussing a storm track. Taken all together, it can add to the inability to breathe and re-centre.
I heard a line from a song in my head several times today. It did make me smile and try to approach things with a bit more calm than usual. The lyrics are short phrases that go by quickly, adding to the frenetic feeling of calamity that the song brings. Enjoy!
It's the End of the World as We Know It -- R.E.M.
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