Fawlty Showers

The Dreaded Allegheny River Piranhas

Randy stopped in later that morning to check on my progress. He looked like the underside of a dumpster.

“Not sleeping again, boss?” I asked.

“Could you hold off cashing your check until Monday?” he asked.

There were signs your company was doing well. Being asked not to cash your paycheck right away was not one of them.

“Okay,” I said, waiting for an explanation, but getting none.

Catastrophizing is a common cognitive distortion, a way people make themselves anxious and depressed by exaggerating all the negative possibilities, no matter how unlikely. I had once been the Michael Jordan of catastrophizing.

If I was five minutes late for a training, I’d start thinking I’d get fired. This would kick off a series of imagined events ending with me living under a bridge by the river.  On a good day piranhas would eat me alive when I waded into Allegheny to bathe.

On that day, I felt the familiar anxiety, let it wash over me, and got back to work.

Today I will go forward despite my fears.

Fawlty Showers is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com 

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/