Musturbation........................

"We elevate those things we want, those things we would prefer to have, into things we believe we must have;  we feel we must perform well in certain circumstances or that other people must treat us well.  Because we thing these things must occur, it follows that it would be an absolute catastrophe if they did not.  No wonder we get so anxious:  we've decided that if we failed to meet our goal it wouldn't merely be bad, but completely bad - absolutely terrible."
-Oliver Burkeman,  The Antidote:  Happiness For People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking