Anxiety: Stop Negative Thoughts

If you’re one of those people who suffer from chronic worrying and anxiety, it is very likely that you view the world as a place far worse than it really is. Chances are that you perpetually see the worst-case scenario with everything while always overestimating the possibility of things going sour.

Ask yourself, is this really the way to go through life. Think of all the people who have it far worse than you and then quiz yourself whether all of your worrying and anxiety is worthwhile or not. Alternatively, see whether you discredit yourself for no logical reason. This is pretty common among people who are chronic worriers; they tend to greatly underestimate their own ability to handle the problems life might throw their way.

 Anxiety: Stop Negative Thoughts

Such irrational and greatly pessimistic attitudes are known as cognitive disorders. Although these disorders aren’t based on any facts or comprise of any form of reality, they are very hard to break or get past. Usually, they become so ingrained in a person’s daily lifestyle that the anxiety or worrying is seen to be quite ‘automatic’ and takes place unconsciously, without the person being actually aware of it.

Hence, to break these ‘habits’ and to get your life back from all the worrying and anxiety that has taken over, you need to learn how to retrain your brain…you need to learn how to get your brain to think in a way that it hasn’t been familiar with for a long time. Among the ways you can do this is by challenging all the negative thoughts you have.

For instance, start out with just one thought that scares you or causes you to panic. Now break this thought into small pieces which you can objectively handle. Don’t think of the thoughts as facts, rather view them as a hypothesis that you need to test. Examine all possible angles and ask yourself what exactly is causing the panic or worry. Critically analyze what you come up with and argue with yourself whether these thoughts need so much time and energy from you when they really doesn’t pose such a big threat. You need to realize that the amount of time you’re spending worrying will not help really help you. Instead you’d be helping yourself if you were coming up with solutions to the problem.

 Anxiety: Stop Negative Thoughts

Alternatively, you could try looking at things from a third-person perspective. Ask yourself what advise you would have give to a friend who would be in the situation you find yourself in and then use that advice on yourself.