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What comes after "what" in our internal speech can have important effects on our state of mind.

Saying “what if” to yourself can lead to spiraling anxiety.

Saying “what now” to yourself is a call for action, which can serve as an antidote to stress.

"If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?" ― Shantideva, 8th century C.E., Indian Buddhist sage

"If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?" ― Shantideva, 8th century C.E., Indian Buddhist sage

What comes after what? No, this is not a redux of the classic “who’s one first?” comedy routine. Nor is it intended as a mere tongue-twister, like Peter Piper picking peppers or Sally selling seashells by the seashore. It’s more of a mind-twister, a change of mind that twists the question “What if? into “What now?”

What-if thinking helps us consider the many possibilities that life affords, from the good to the bad and even the ugly. But ruminating on the “what ifs” opens a floodgate of worrisome concerns about all the awful things that could possibly happen. “Yes, I might get fired.” “Yes, I might have cancer.” ”Yes, the market might crash.”

Yes, virtually anything bad is possible when you permit your mind to wander into the netherworld of the what-ifs. Yet dwelling on negative, even cataclysmic, consequences does little........

© Psychology Today