“He said that was no way to live, especially when I can’t actually know if the future holds pain or something good or benign. I was doing the Shafers’ job for them, tormenting myself and making myself a prisoner of my own fear and hopelessness. ‘You think expecting the worst protects you,’ he said. ‘It just makes you miserable twice over—in the present with miserable anticipation that can’t change a thing, and again in the future if you end up being right. You aren’t protecting yourself. You’re robbing yourself of any chance of joy or peace.’”
