A
man is rowing a boat down a river. Everything is calm until he notices
another boat heading straight toward him. He starts to panic, thinking
they’re about to crash. He shouts for the other person to move, but the
boat keeps coming. The closer it gets, the angrier he becomes. He’s
yelling, swearing, completely worked up, convinced the other person is
ignoring him.

Then, just before the boats collide, he realizes something — the other boat is empty.There’s nobody in it at all.So he simply reaches out with his paddle, gently pushes the boat aside, and instantly all the anger, fear, and stress disappear.That
story feels a lot like life. Human beings naturally carry a kind of
built-in anxiety, and many times we create fear within ourselves — not
because the situation itself is causing it, but because of our
imagination.That’s
why, when we feel anxious or overwhelmed, it helps to pause and look at
things more rationally instead of letting our imagination take over. A
lot of the time, the fear and panic we feel come more from our mind than
from reality itself.