What You Can Learn from Exploring Your Worst Case Scenarios
How a simple technique can help you approach your fears with curiosity
Like most of the country, I’m tuned in every week to NBC’s This Is Us to see what’s new with the Pearson family and to, undoubtedly, cry crocodile tears over a heartwarming moment. While I enjoy most every character on the program, I particularly love Beth and Randall’s relationship dynamic and their authentic and (often delightfully corny) banter.
One of my favorite running themes in the show is the married couple’s Worst Case Scenario game, which involves Beth and Randall each laying out their worst fears about how a given issue could go horribly wrong. Their fears typically center on concerns related to parenting such as Beth’s disclosure to her whole family in season four’s game: “Worst case scenario? That I project my own stuff onto [the] girls making [them] feel anything less than [their] wonderfully, beautiful, wildly unique selves.” Although the Pearsons are (sadly) fictional, this practice does have utility in the real world. By playing this “game,” we can give ourselves and others space to explicitly name and, thus, honor the weight of our fears.
