Tarot cards tend to be dramatic with bold imagery with a number and classification and maybe a single word title as clarification. Each card on its own shouts its message, a warning or good omen or neutral inscrutable image. If you react to each card on its level of drama, you are bound to overreact or have no reaction at all. Every time you get the 10 of swords in a reading it is not going to mean disaster, or if you get the King of Disks, you may see a placid man seated with coins around him, he does not always symbolize a prosperous future for you or even an older dark-haired man: They could be interpreted this way certainly, but a much more useful way of reading for me is to look at my life and situation and finding a meaning that helps to clarify my thinking rather than trying to passively receive visions of the future.
The 10 of swords may be telling me that I am engaging in too much catastrophic thinking, giving me a contrast to my actual situation, or a cue to look at where I am headed and adjust to a situation that may be more cautious moving forward. Or as I choose to interpret this card, I am coming to the end of a certain way of life which I will have to leave, taking what I can that will help me move forward. It’s closing time for this setting of my life and time to take what I have learned a move to a new living situation. A huge change, but huge changes are potentially happening with each step I take or choose not to take. The main point is this place is no longer going to sustain my life. It is played out. So I move on, no disaster unless I attempt to remain in stasis in this now barren situation. It is telling me to stay focused on stepping into a new home, which will involve a few risks, but it would be far riskier to try and stay where I am.