The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: It’s What You Make Of It

1) Expect The Worst, But Don’t Assume The Worst.

“Hope for the best, but expect the worst.” This is a philosophy intended to prepare people for a worst-case scenario while not letting the idea of that scenario consume you. You might wonder what’s the difference between “expecting” the worst and “assuming” the worst; well, it’s simple: One is preparing in the event the worst could happen, while the other is believing that it already has.

Throughout most of this week’s episode of The Walking Dead, that is what we saw Princess do. The episode began by imagining that Yumiko was struck in the head and left with a concussion during the group’s apprehension by the Commonwealth’s soldiers. Everything after that — Princess’s conversations with a dazed and groggy Yumiko, Yumiko apparently passing out, Princess having to stop Ezekiel from going overboard and killing the guard sent to bring her food — were all Princess going off of the assumption that not only was this something that could happen but, something that did happen.

Because of this assumption, Princess nearly wound up killing her guard, bailing on Eugene, Yumiko, and Ezekiel, and either being hunted down by the Commonwealth or going back to the isolated existence she’d had when the trio first found her.

I would imagine that, once the apocalypse begins, it would be hard not to assume the worst; To a certain degree, the worst would have already happened (The zombie apocalypse), so it wouldn’t be a huge stretch of the imagination to jump to the conclusion.

However, it’s a habit you have to make sure you don’t get into, and for one simple reason: Your approach to something determines how you behave next. When you’re expecting the worst, you prepare for it as best as you can and have some hope that it may not happen, but when you assume that it’s happened already, you’re more likely to act out of desperation or despair because you believe there’s no hope left.

Just because the worst could happen doesn’t mean it will, and you can’t afford to throw away the chance you may have to deal with the worst by assuming you have no chance at all.