a safe and healthy outlet

my favorite thing about anxiety is, sometimes i'll be just minding my business and then my brain will be like, "you know what you should do is imagine if something really terrible happened." today it said, "remember how you said you'd have coffee with A on monday? what if you run into one of the people you like there and ask them out and they say no? keep in mind that that coffee shop is very small and people sometimes have to share tables, and also everyone there knows each other and also you, so there will be a close and attentive audience. why don't you imagine that scene in graphic detail right now instead of doing the fun thing you were doing before? it will be great." so i did that and then i cried about it. just to be clear, i just finished crying over something that has not happened and probably never will happen because i just made it up in my head just now. because...i don't know why. at least i am now prepared in case that thing happens, i guess.