One Day at a Time
‘Worry About Tomorrow, Tomorrow’
Daily insights on life in the face of uncertainty, by psychiatrist and habit change specialist Dr. Jud Brewer
Welcome to One Day At A Time — a daily column offering science-backed help for living through uncertainty.
I’ve been getting a lot of requests over the past few days for tips on how to balance planning for the future with the uncertainty we all face.
Here’s the science.
Our brains are set up to plan for the future. This helps us survive. When we don’t have enough information to plan, however, we start spinning out in what is called perseveration — a fancy term for our brains getting caught in repetitive thought loops. This is similar to what happens to computers that get overloaded. When your computer doesn’t have enough free space on its hard drive, every little command you give it slows it down, and you get that little spinning wheel that signals processing difficulties.
I’m seeing this “what if” worry loop everywhere these days and I bet you are too.
Our brains do the same thing. When we don’t have enough information, our brains start that “what if” spin-out: what if this…
