ALISON SCHENK | Entertainment | Contact
A BROKEN CLOCK IS STILL RIGHT TWICE A DAY: As a lifelong angsty girly, Betoota Heights local Melinda (32) often finds herself preparing for the worst case scenario in any given situation. Much to the chagrin of her family, loved ones, friends, colleagues, cycling mates, and Jo at the Coffee Club down the Westfields, Melinda’s favourite hobby apart from chewing her nails down to a very respectable nub, is to ‘overthink’.
“I actually don’t agree that it’s “overthinking'”, Melinda told the Advocate, while googling whether acid rain is still a thing. “I take offence to that. Especially because sometimes the bad thing that I worry will happen, DOES happen. Then who’s laughing?” she asked.
“Well, no one”, she answered, “but at least I’m right”.
This particular coping mechanism is one quite common to those afflicted by the nervy-wervys. With a preparedness that would rival any doomsday prepper, anxious people often use ‘catastrophising’ as a way to elicit the illusion of control.
“The thing is, lately, I’ve been getting a LOT of shit right”. Melinda advised, with a smile some would describe as ‘smug’ but Melinda describes as ‘validated’. “I almost feel psychic at this point. Like just the other day we got a letter from the landlord and before I even opened it, I said to my boyfriend ‘I bet they’re increasing our rent’, he told me I’m overthinking, I opened the letter and BAM! $200 extra a week”, she laughed, “I win”, her laugh trailed off.
“I mean sure, it means my body and central nervous system are in a chronic state of constant stress, but that’s what SSRI’s are for, right?”
As Melinda hurried off to call her sister who she just had a missed call from and therefore assumed she was dying in a ditch, she left The Advocate with the parting words “the worst case scenario is the only scenario!”, before re-checking the photo she took this morning of her turned-off stovetop.
