View Full Version : A Comet is Heading Towards Earth
One day a comet will smash into earth and destroy all known life. Just as it probably did with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This could happen tomorrow or it could happen in 4 million years' time. Nobody knows when.
Despite all the telescopes and space probes we have, experts reckon that we would get approximately 1 second's warning before a catastrophic event like this could happen, such is the speeds involved and our relative lack of knowledge of the Universe. 1 second. Not enough time to even say goodbye to loved ones.
My question is this, and hopefully you will see how this relates back to health anxiety:
Do you spend your life worrying about this comet, which would kill you and everyone you know instantly? Does it give you nightmares? Do you lose sleep over it? Does the very thought of it give you palpitations?
If not, then why not?
Answer these questions, and you are a step closer to beating health anxiety.
Best of luck and good wishes.
Why do people fear death? Often, the answer to that is because we don't want to leave our loved ones. If we're all going together then it really doesn't bother me!
I don't think we'd suffer either, it would be a quick death in the blink of an eye!
Sad thing Skippy is that I have worried over that exact thing and much more in my past. I don't just stop at health anxiety!
I am learning that I should only worry over what I have direct control over. I can not control whether a comet wipes us out, just as I can not control whether my house gets swallowed up by a sink hole! I CAN however control my reaction to things, so I will worry about getting my thinking right!
xofeatherxo
18-11-14, 14:00
I think about this all the time. A comet could kill me in the next second, a plane could crash into my house, I could die driving to the store in a few hours. None of that bothers me. Even with health, nothing terrifies me like cancer. Aneurysms are scary yeah, heart attacks are bad, sure, and I'll worry if I think I'm experiencing any of those things, but cancer, even the thought of cancer keeps me up all night and I'm always checking for signs and symptoms and lumps... Even if i don't have any particular symptoms i'm thinking of potential symptoms to watch for. I wish i could stop. It's like an obsession. A compulsive obsession. O.o
Because I wouldn't know about it that's why.
But the idea of having an illness that will slowly kill you over months is my worry. Not death as such.
However I do see your point :)
bluesdevil
18-11-14, 14:06
i didn't but the thought will rock me to sleep tonight.....such is the mess of my head right now.
to answer the original questions
Do you spend your life worrying about this comet, which would kill you and everyone you know instantly? Does it give you nightmares? Do you lose sleep over it? Does the very thought of it give you palpitations?
Not yet but it will now. It will do i'm sure. Most probably x 2
I agree with what Tish says. If its coming- Bring it on!!!! not sometime soon though:noangel:
I dont fear death one bit I only fear pain and suffering ,1 second warning would be enough for me
sophieunderscore
18-11-14, 16:27
I don't think this is comparable to health anxiety - you don't worry about it, because you're not aware of it (however, you've now made people aware of it, so they will worry), health anxiety you are aware of a symptom which causes you to worry about a particular illness. I fortunately have my anxiety under control at the moment, but when I was bad, this kind of post would have made me very anxious. I vaguely see the point you're trying to make here, but I don't think this is the best way to go about it.
*might trigger some people!*
1 second is indeed not a lot of time, but if you were having a heart attack which might also take just a few seconds, or a stroke, or were hit by a bus, you would equally only have a short time to process it and no time to say goodbye to your loved ones. It doesn't stop anxious people worrying about those things happening though... what does work is learning to live in the now and not catastrophise possible future interstellar (or health related) events.
So I'm going to un-catastrophise the comet by saying that it will probably skirt around the Earth, hit Venus or Mars maybe, perhaps cause some atmospheric upset if it gets close, but generally either miss or we will attempt to blow it up with nuclear warheads (causing a selection of other problems for the human race) and we won't see another one for another 66 million years. :shrug:
[QUOTE=Mondie;1373332]Sad thing Skippy is that I have worried over that exact thing and much more in my past. I don't just stop at health anxiety!
Me too Mondie. About 10 years ago, I developed a fixation about a comet crashing in to the earth, that was as severe as my cancer fixation. It went on for months, and I was in a right state. Eventually the fear passed, and now I couldn't give two hoots, but at the time it was horrendous. So as you say, for me it doesn't just stop at Health Anxiety.
Story about something similar.
Once many years ago there were a group of men out in the ocean fishing in a ancient boat. A storm came up quickly and started tossing the boat around and smashing into it.The men noticed one man sitting calmly and never looking worried. The men struggled all night long to keep the boat from turning over and sinking. They were really frightened yet the man sit calmly in the corner looking relaxed. After the storm finally calmed down the men went over to ask the man why he was so calm. They said to him weren't you terrified? Were you not afraid we could die any moment? The man just looked at them and replied..."How is this different from any other day?"
So if you think about it...how is what you are fearing any different from any other day or event? I have a fear of death im working on and health fears but im trying so hard not to let those fears take all the joy out of my life. But I wanted you to know...that everything ,everything dies. The birds the animals ,the trees..and the mountains and rocks and the planets and the stars and one day ,yes this earth will cease to be and everything on it . Even our galaxy will cease to be. It is just what it is. Life has a great cycle ,birth ,living and death. We are always just a second from death. When I was growing up and everywhere the countries were developing
nuclear missiles,everyone was terrified that we would be nuked any minute
but over the years people learned to forget about that threat pretty much but even now the threat is magnified a million times over by the number of nut cases able to make nuclear weapons so whats one to do? All I can figure out is to try to live each moment to its fullest and try to have a good life. For there is only this moment. The past is something that has already happened and the future is only something someone dreams of and the present will be past quickly so enjoy it and try to just put away the fear of the future. Sorry about the long post. Have a great evening.
One day a comet will smash into earth and destroy all known life. Just as it probably did with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This could happen tomorrow or it could happen in 4 million years' time. Nobody knows when.
Despite all the telescopes and space probes we have, experts reckon that we would get approximately 1 second's warning before a catastrophic event like this could happen, such is the speeds involved and our relative lack of knowledge of the Universe. 1 second. Not enough time to even say goodbye to loved ones.
My question is this, and hopefully you will see how this relates back to health anxiety:
Do you spend your life worrying about this comet, which would kill you and everyone you know instantly? Does it give you nightmares? Do you lose sleep over it? Does the very thought of it give you palpitations?
If not, then why not?
Answer these questions, and you are a step closer to beating health anxiety.
Best of luck and good wishes.
One day a comet will smash into earth and destroy all known life. Just as it probably did with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This could happen tomorrow or it could happen in 4 million years' time. Nobody knows when.
Despite all the telescopes and space probes we have, experts reckon that we would get approximately 1 second's warning before a catastrophic event like this could happen, such is the speeds involved and our relative lack of knowledge of the Universe. 1 second. Not enough time to even say goodbye to loved ones.
My question is this, and hopefully you will see how this relates back to health anxiety:
Do you spend your life worrying about this comet, which would kill you and everyone you know instantly? Does it give you nightmares? Do you lose sleep over it? Does the very thought of it give you palpitations?
If not, then why not?
Answer these questions, and you are a step closer to beating health anxiety.
Best of luck and good wishes.
TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOW WORRYING ABOUT THIS IT IS 100% INCORRECT.
This comet was destroyed by the Sun in November of 2013. It was called Comet ISON. Even if it got by the sun, it would have missed the Earth by around 63 million km.
Now, the OP of this thread has a good point. What if there was a comet heading towards Earth?
Regards,
Robert G.
Catherine S
19-11-14, 01:33
I agree with mindknot because these days i'm more of an optimist rather than a fatalist! The so called weathermen can't even get the weather forecast correct, so why would the astronomists get the path of a comet correct :)
ISB x
If there ever were a comet heading straight for earth, which is very unlikely given the size of the earth compared to the galaxy, probably less than one in a billion chance, as long as Bruce Willis is still around we will be fine :)
NervousNelly
19-11-14, 07:42
I worry about all of it. I just love life and living so much that the thought of it ending makes me sick to my stomach. Its ALL about the loved ones!!
On that note, I am getting off here and going to hang out with my kids just in case that comet comes tomorrow.
Its so much more fun to focus on love and joy and happiness than what could/might happen in the worst way possible.
MyNameIsTerry
19-11-14, 08:20
TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOW WORRYING ABOUT THIS IT IS 100% INCORRECT.
This comet was destroyed by the Sun in November of 2013. It was called Comet ISON. Even if it got by the sun, it would have missed the Earth by around 63 million km.
Now, the OP of this thread has a good point. What if there was a comet heading towards Earth?
Regards,
Robert G.
Good post Robert. I liken this to the many Ebola threads we see where people have all the Cognitive Distortions engaged, attentional-bias, etc when its the 17th outbreak since 1975 and we've never had any issues in our countries. Correct facts are always important in order to rationalise against the irrational anxiety issues.
Sadly, there are people who suffer from these types of irrational fears. Its like being run over, attacked in the street, etc...many of these people do think about and we need to be sensitive to this.
People do need to change this type of thinking, but we have to accomodate it for those that haven't made it through that yet.
As a GAD sufferer, at my worst I would find the news affecting me and I've seen posts about civil unrest doing this to people, and it can be part of the journey through recovery.
---------- Post added at 08:20 ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 ----------
as long as Bruce Willis is still around we will be fine :)
Definately...and Roy Schneider for Great Whites!!! :yesyes:
If there ever were a comet heading straight for earth, which is very unlikely given the size of the earth compared to the galaxy, probably less than one in a billion chance, as long as Bruce Willis is still around we will be fine :)
Yeah, I believe the US National Nuclear Security Agency has some warheads in stock for just such an event (and presumably Bruce is being trained in drilling)... - http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/02/nuclear-weapons-asteroid-defence-program_n_5918898.html
The idea of them actually using the damn things is way more terrifying to me than a comet itself.
---------- Post added at 10:44 ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 ----------
TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOW WORRYING ABOUT THIS IT IS 100% INCORRECT.
This comet was destroyed by the Sun in November of 2013. It was called Comet ISON. Even if it got by the sun, it would have missed the Earth by around 63 million km.
Now, the OP of this thread has a good point. What if there was a comet heading towards Earth?
Regards,
Robert G.
And what if you happened to be the one person that contracted the rarest form of cancer ever with a one in a billion chance? - That kind of thought experiment doesn't make much difference to people with anxiety, the "what if... s?" are the problem really, not thinking about them too deeply is the solution.
I worry about all of it. I just love life and living so much that the thought of it ending makes me sick to my stomach. Its ALL about the loved ones!!
On that note, I am getting off here and going to hang out with my kids just in case that comet comes tomorrow.
Its so much more fun to focus on love and joy and happiness than what could/might happen in the worst way possible.
Hallelujah.
:yesyes:
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