Interestingly enough there is some evidence—or at least assertions by people who’ve studied this sort of thing—that doing this sort of problem solving ahead of time tends to reduce the paralysis.
When you get on a plane, go into a restaurant, when you’re wandering down the street or when you go someplace new think about a few common emergencies and just think about how you might respond to them.
Head is an achin’ and knees are abraded
Plates in my neck and stitches updated
Toes are a cracking and Tendons inflamed
These are a few of my favorite pains
But yes, the author of those books is mostly correct, there’s some kinds of pain that serve as a useful warning function. Those are good and we should be grateful.
Others are artifacts of historical stupidity. I’ve learned those lessons and reminding me of them is useless.