reverse (reverse) psychology

What do you do when you get scared?

I free associate.

Sorry… ?

I think of all the other things I am scared of. One by one, they file into my mind. I feel them each individually as they approach, each with their own tension, their own sense of dread. An intricately planted premonition, each and every one of them. I free associate my fears, and my head begins to pound, my teeth clench, and later at night they gnash and grind, sometimes mincing my teeth to dust.

And this is something you allow yourself to do? You entertain these guests? You don’t turn them away?

There is something to them, Larry. They remind me, once the dread has passed, to live.

And your happiness cannot do that for you?

Hm. That’s interesting. I had never thought about that...