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Am I Normal?thoughts

When things are going genuinely well, I wait for the other shoe to drop

Anticipatory dread during good periods is a protective pessimism mechanism. The brain, having learned from experience that good periods end, models the end of the current positive state as statistically likely. Some people call this waiting for the other shoe; psychologists call it fortune phobia or emotional anticipatory anxiety.

Have you ever done this?

Be honest — have you ever done this?

Related fact

The phrase 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' originated in New York tenements of the early 1900s, where thin floors meant residents could hear the upstairs neighbour take one shoe off — and the entire floor would wait, unable to sleep, for the second shoe.

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