Most everyday risks look way bigger before you take them than after. The view from the other side is smaller.

Beforehand you are not looking at the thing, you are looking at your anticipation of it, and anticipation has no sense of scale. Afterwards it collapses into something that merely happened on a Tuesday. Almost all the size was in the waiting, which is why people so often finish something they dreaded for a fortnight and find they have nothing much to say about it.

Write your prediction down before the next one: how bad, how long, who will react. Compare it to what actually occurred. Keep the list, because a record like that is hard for your own head to argue with.