It can often feel that the challenges of life are insurmountable. Whether it’s achieving financial stability, maintaining relationships, coping with the death of a loved one, or any number of life’s stressors, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, or even downright hopeless. But there’s some good news: Psychologists have revealed that nothing is that big of a deal.

Whew! This is a huge relief. 

In an article published this week in the Journal of Mental Health & Clinical Psychology, a group of top psychologists revealed that despite a lot of things feeling like super big deals, none of them actually are. The authors concluded that, “While many feel as if losing a job or going through a divorce is a pretty big deal, it’s actually not. Millions of people go through life filled with anxiety that they might embarrass themselves in front of their peers or be diagnosed with cancer, but the reality is that even if those things happen, it’s going to be no sweat because it won’t really matter much.”

The article, which no doubt will take a major mental load off of anyone who has ever felt scared or sad about practically anything, goes on to explain that, “Our brains tend to see the things that are happening to us or might happen to us as big deals, which is the source of all of our negative emotions, like stress and guilt. Thankfully, our brains are totally wrong. Sure, some things are slightly bigger deals than others, but that doesn’t mean that any of them are that big of a deal overall. The amount of anxiety and fear you experience during, say, a plane crash is completely disproportionate to the actual event, because dying under terrifying circumstances just isn’t a huge deal, even if it seems that way at the time.”

Whoa. This is really good to know. 

Well, now that you know that nothing is a big deal, how are you going to live your life differently? Will you still follow traffic laws and show up to work every day? Will you continue to sleep and brush your teeth? Learning this relatively simple fact definitely has the power to change your entire perspective on life. Thanks, psychologists!