My cat is gone. He was let out by accident, and he has been missing for two days. I really hope he comes back soon - I am pretty sad about it.

I was raised on the concept of the worst case scenario. Whenever I got really upset, my dad would carefully describe the worst possible results of the situation, and he didn't soften the edges. Its actually comforting to know exactly what you could be getting into - then you can start to plan how you are going to deal with it. I commonly use this strategy to attempt to cheer up my friends when they are upset. It doesn't work very well.