Rumination
![Power-phrase for combatting crippling rumination.
[Triangle-person is carrying a spherical aquarium with a fish, heading onto a carpet. The carpet has a kink]
[Triangle-person trips on the kink, sending the aquarium flying]
[Triangle person screams into the heavens, the aquarium lays shattered and the fish is dead]
[Triangle-person is bowing towards the fish, crying]
[Triangle-person is sitting in sadness]
[Triangle-person perks up a bit, and says: Oh well, it is what it is]
[Triangle-person seems less sad, and is thinking about their fish having wings and a little angelic aureole]](/images/266-rumination@1x.png)
Power-phrase for combatting crippling rumination.
[Triangle-person is carrying a spherical aquarium with a fish, heading onto a carpet. The carpet has a kink]
[Triangle-person trips on the kink, sending the aquarium flying]
[Triangle person screams into the heavens, the aquarium lays shattered and the fish is dead]
[Triangle-person is bowing towards the fish, crying]
[Triangle-person is sitting in sadness]
[Triangle-person perks up a bit, and says: Oh well, it is what it is]
[Triangle-person seems less sad, and is thinking about their fish having wings and a little angelic aureole]
Rumination is a persistent loop of negative thoughts that one struggles to turn off, especially involving a never-ending series of regretful “what if it didn’t happen”.
There is a game where you try to survive in the snowy wilds. It’s relatively simple, but with a lot to remember - you need to feed yourself, keep hydrated, carry appropriate equipment, use the day-night cycle to the full benefit, avoid predators, not forget stuff behind you, and so on.
This game excels at forcing you to make decisions under duress with limited information. It’s a despair generator - “I should have taken more food with me”, or “How the hell did I forget my pot at the last campsite”. It’s a perfect feed for rumination.
There is a person who records their gameplay and publishes it on YouTube. Watching them, I’ve started to notice that they are particularly good at shaking off the rumination.
Whenever they are faced with a harmful consequence of their mistakes or random events, they hesitate for a bit - I can almost hear the voice in their mind going off, berating them. Then magic happens: they utter “oh well, it is what it is”, and just like that they are on their way. Brilliant.