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As for the first part of your comment, for me I've always viewed thoughts like that as the opposite side of the coin of "What if this truck beside me swerves? W

As for the first part of your comment, for me I've always viewed thoughts like that as the opposite side of the coin of "What if this truck beside me swerves? What's the safest way to ditch", "What if a car cam around this bend too fast and jumped the curb? When would I realize it would happen? Which direction do I go? Do I pick up the kid, or push them and where?", or "What if I was bumped onto the subway tracks? Where can I take cover? What do I need to avoid?". Sometimes I take it a little far I think at first, like keeping waterproof blankets in the car ("What if we're in an accident in the winter?") or rotating out growlers of tap water ("What if there is a boil water advisory or worse?"). In the end though, those blankets and water havn't been used for their intended purpose, but have come in handy just having around. Then there are things like running through an airplane crash, as we fly with and without kids a number of times a year, and basically thinking of how to keep calm, where exits are, when to unbuckle the kids, make sure to ask for child life vests if needed, ensure that anything I take out of my bag won't become a projectile and how to secure it properly during normal flight, what is the appropriate way for a toddler to brace for imapact, &c. Obviously they're not great "simulations" as I have no real basis for reality, but in the end I sometimes don't feel like I have a choice in thinking about it -- it just happens. It also leads me down many interesting paths and I've learned quite a bit. I've told a few close friends that I feel like my "special talent" is to figure out what's wrong with everything (both physical systems and protocols, real and digital) I encounter: How will it break? Where will it fail? The flip side of that is also thinking about how to deal with those problems. Like you said,"part of the normal what-if and should-i scenarios my mind plays all the time." I guess I never considered that this wasn't normal/common. It's the background music of my life.

arkey 8y ago
I also do that, but without really having any expertise besides interest in the subject, I'd say this is different from intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are not voluntary things, they seem to come randomly and by accident, so to say. You say that all these things you think just come to your head also, but like in my case, I'd think they are consequences of a certain mindset. In my case I would even dare say this is how I've been raised. I see the benefits of observing these details, of having a plan, not only in my day job (I'm a software engineer, and probably most people here would agree that it's very useful to be able to easily go into "what if..."), but also in daily life, i.e. I'm on a hike, what could go wrong? or a better example: I'm one of the Fire Wardens in my office. Believe me, I've run plenty and plenty of scenarios for that in just an attempt to be more prepared for situations that could actually happen at some point. So when you care about these things, you have awareness for them... I guess you end up thinking about them just as business as usual.
lolc 8y ago
As humans (and as mammals) we're "on the long leash of evolution" because we can think through our actions and mentally prepare for calamity. We do this even during sleep. (The organisms that can't are "on the short leash" because behaviour modifications happen through death of the maladjusted.) This ability is selected for in nature because it keeps us out of harms way. Unfortunately for some people it can overshoot into crippling worry. Sometimes when walking over a bridge the thought comes to me: "What if it started collapsing?" And I'll consider my options only to conclude: I'd be smashed to bits not matter what I did. It takes some force of will not to walk faster at that point. I have a friend who sometimes can't cross bridges for the fear of leaping off. Both thoughts are irrational in the sense that the chance of it occurring are remote. Still, the same kind of thoughts have saved my life on numerous occasions. In traffic for example. I like the picture of these thoughts being the (sometimes dramatic) background music of our lifes.

arkey 8y ago

I also do that, but without really having any expertise besides interest in the subject, I'd say this is different from intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are not voluntary things, they seem to come randomly and by accident, so to say. You say that all these things you think just come to your head also, but like in my case, I'd think they are consequences of a certain mindset. In my case I would even dare say this is how I've been raised. I see the benefits of observing these details, of having a plan, not only in my day job (I'm a software engineer, and probably most people here would agree that it's very useful to be able to easily go into "what if..."), but also in daily life, i.e. I'm on a hike, what could go wrong? or a better example: I'm one of the Fire Wardens in my office. Believe me, I've run plenty and plenty of scenarios for that in just an attempt to be more prepared for situations that could actually happen at some point. So when you care about these things, you have awareness for them... I guess you end up thinking about them just as business as usual.

lolc 8y ago

As humans (and as mammals) we're "on the long leash of evolution" because we can think through our actions and mentally prepare for calamity. We do this even during sleep. (The organisms that can't are "on the short leash" because behaviour modifications happen through death of the maladjusted.) This ability is selected for in nature because it keeps us out of harms way. Unfortunately for some people it can overshoot into crippling worry. Sometimes when walking over a bridge the thought comes to me: "What if it started collapsing?" And I'll consider my options only to conclude: I'd be smashed to bits not matter what I did. It takes some force of will not to walk faster at that point. I have a friend who sometimes can't cross bridges for the fear of leaping off. Both thoughts are irrational in the sense that the chance of it occurring are remote. Still, the same kind of thoughts have saved my life on numerous occasions. In traffic for example. I like the picture of these thoughts being the (sometimes dramatic) background music of our lifes.