by Oli Anderson, Transformational Coach for Realness

Do Your Best, Accept the Rest, and Face the Worst-Case Scenario to Deal with ANYTHING

Life is full of uncertainty – whether it’s the unpredictability of being self-employed, the ups and downs of health, or simply the fact that nothing ever stays the same, uncertainty is a constant.

For many, this unpredictability fuels fear – fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of losing control…but here’s the truth: most of these fears are only as big as the space we allow them to occupy in our minds and a lot of fear is just F.E.A.R (“False evidence appearing real”) anyway.

Over the years, I’ve can truly say that I’ve trained myself to accept what I genuinely cannot change and to maintain serenity as my baseline. That doesn’t mean F.E.A.R never shows up – just that I know how to kick myself into shape when it does and shift my focus back to being REAL.

Like everybody (humans gonna human), every so often, I get one of those familiar ‘niggles’ -a mental itch that calls me into the ego and unreality.

When this happens my imagination kicks in, conjuring up the worst-case scenario:

You know the drill – it’s all the usual ‘stuff’: running out of money, dropping dead, disappointing someone that we love or care about…very human fears that keep us all awake at night every once in a while.

Luckily, I learned a ‘hack’ that’s helped me with this:

When you face the worst-case scenario, even embrace it, you realise it’s never as terrifying as your imagination makes it seem.

The bottom-line is that F.E.A.R thrives on avoidance and denial but when you look at it squarely and ask, “Now then, what’s the worst that could actually happen here?” you strip it of its power because you remember your own REALNESS.

You discover that even if the “worst” does happen, it’s not the end of the world – it’s just another part of the journey.

Fear: The Great Exaggerator

Fear is a master manipulator, and its favourite tool is exaggeration – it takes a small possibility or HYPOTHETICAL “WHAT IF?”, blows it out of proportion, and plays it on repeat in your mind like a bad soap opera. What’s worse, the more you avoid confronting it, the more vivid and persistent it becomes.

Let’s take death, for example – the ultimate “worst-case scenario” for most people. But when you really think about it, being dead probably isn’t that bad.

You’ll either:

Be blissfully unaware (because you’re dead).
Be ‘chilling’ in some afterlife.
Be burning and losing your wits for all eternity (okay, this one’s less appealing, but you get the point).

The fear of death is really about the idea of death and whatever our imagination (in the service of the ego) manages to concoct, not the reality of it.

Similarly, running out of money feels catastrophic in theory, but in practice, there’s almost always a way forward. You tighten your belt, get creative, and figure things out. Life goes on.

Even the fear of disappointing someone – a client, a boss, a partner – is rarely as dire as it feels before it actually happens (if it even does)…if you approach the situation with honesty and a genuine willingness to make things right, most problems can be resolved.

The common thread here is this: the “worst-case scenario” only seems bad because we imagine it in isolation, as though it’s the end of the story.

But life doesn’t stop at the worst-case scenario. It keeps moving, and so do you.

Facing the Worst-Case Scenario

When fear strikes, the instinctive reaction is often to avoid it:

We distract ourselves, overthink, or try to control every variable in an effort to make the fear go away but avoidance only feeds the fear.

The real antidote is to confront it head-on and to remember that REAL ALWAYS WORKS.

Here’s how:

Name the Fear
Start by asking yourself: What am I actually afraid of? Be specific. The more clearly you can define the fear, the easier it is to deal with. Even this simple step might help you to realise that your fears are irrational or unfounded and something that you can even laugh at.
Visualise the Worst-Case Scenario
Imagine it happening. Not in a panicked, spiralling way, but calmly and rationally from a place of SAFETY (i.e. allow your nervous system to stay relaxed and in the parasympathetic state – keep your breathing slow for example and remind yourself that emotional discomfort and physical danger are totally different things). What would it look like? What would it feel like?
Ask Yourself: Can I Handle This?
In most cases, the answer is yes. You may not want to deal with the worst-case scenario, but you’re probably capable of doing so if you TRUST YOURSELF and remember that you’ve already ‘handled’ every other thing that life has thrown at you so far. And when you accept that, the fear loses its grip, because you realise that you’re no longer totally powerless and at the effect of whatever happens.
Make a Plan
If the worst-case scenario were to happen, what would you do? Having a plan – even a loose one -gives you a sense of control and reduces the fear of the unknown. Really, this all comes down to knowing that whatever happnes – even if you ‘lose’ everything (even though you can’t lose anything real) – you’ll still have your capacity to ACT, find solutions, and be a cause of your life instead of just an effect.
Let It Go
Once you’ve faced the F.E.A.R, accepted the possibility of the worst, and made a plan, let it go. Shift your focus to the present moment and the actions you can take right now – by staying in the PROCESS of whatever is actually happening instead of the matrix your mind projects out into the world then you can keep learning and evolving and will realise that there is no worst-case scenario because things keep changing.

The Freedom of Acceptance

Acceptance is freedom:

When you accept the worst-case scenario – not as a some great unknown, but as a possibility – you free yourself from the stranglehold of fear, stop wasting energy on what if, and start focusing on what now.

Acceptance isn’t about giving up or resigning yourself to fate (though accepting what you can’t change (fate) will allow you to make choices about your destiny) – it’s about acknowledging reality as it is, without ego resistance, distortion, or denial.

It’s standing on the abyss and screaming out to the Void, “Sh*t happens and I’ll deal with it”.

This mindset is incredibly freeing because it shifts your focus from outcomes (which you can’t always control) to actions (which you can); it allows you to approach life with a sense of calm confidence, knowing that – no matter what happens – you’ll find a way through.

Do Your Best, Accept the Rest

At the heart of this philosophy is a simple yet profound idea: do your best (TRUST YOURSELF) and accept the rest (TRUST LIFE).

Do your best in the moment. Show up, put in the effort, and act with integrity. Then, let go of the outcome – trust that life has a way of working itself out, even if it doesn’t unfold exactly as you planned.

This isn’t about being passive or apathetic but about recognising that you can’t control everything, and that trying to do so is a recipe for stress and dissatisfaction. Instead, a more REAL approach is to focus on what’s within your power – your actions, your mindset, your response to challenges – and trust life to handle the rest.

Practical Steps to Trust Yourself and Life

Face the Fear
Don’t run from your fears – turn towards them.

Ask yourself:
- What’s the worst that could actually happen?How likely is it?If it did happen, what would I do?
By facing the fear head-on, you rob it of its power and see it for what it really is – an exaggerated story in your mind that’s usually a projection of underlying shame, guilt, and/or trauma.
Focus on What You Can Control
Life is full of uncertainties, but there’s always something you can control – your actions, your attitude, your effort. When you focus on these, you shift from a place of helplessness to a place of empowerment and remind yourself that you’re REAL.
Take Action
F.E.A.R thrives in inaction and the longer you sit with it, the bigger and more unmanageable it seems to grow. The solution? Do something. Even a small step forward can break the cycle of rumination and remind you of your own agency.
Reframe the Worst-Case Scenario
Instead of seeing the worst-case scenario as a dead end, see it as a challenge. What could you learn from it? How could it help you grow more real? What strengths or qualities is it calling out of your Shadow Self so you can become whole again?
Trust the Process
As the old saying goes, “Life is a journey, not a destination” – trust that every twist and turn is part of your growth and evolution into more REALNESS. Even the setbacks have something to teach you – if you’re willing to learn and keep moving no matter what ‘happens’ to you.

Life Is Always Moving

The truth is, life never stops. Even in the face of the worst-case scenario, life keeps flowing, and so can you.

The challenges you F.E.A.R today may feel overwhelming, but in time, they’ll become just another chapter in your story – one that helped you grow, adapt, and become stronger as you learned to discern what was real about yourself, the world, and reality itself from what’s unreal.

Next time fear tries to hijack your mind, remind yourself:

The worst-case scenario is rarely as bad as it seems.
Even if it happens, you can handle it.
Life is always moving and so are you if you LET GO and TRUST.

Do your best. Accept the rest:

Trust yourself, trust life, and embrace the adventure of it all. You’re stronger than your F.E.A.R makes you believe – and whatever comes your way, you’ll find your way through. It has to be this way because you already made it this far.

Just keep moving forward.

Stay real out there,

Trust: A Manual for Becoming the Void, Building Flow, and Finding Peace is a book about learning to return to your realness by cultivating trust in yourself and trust in life.

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