Weekly Prompt #5: What negative thoughts keep running through your head?
Hello everyone, I hope you are all being easy on yourself this week.
Last week we discussed A Jar Full of Life. Thank you to all who participated and shared their thoughts for discussion. I enjoyed them. I hope you all did too. If you didn't share yours, please share them here and I look forward to reading and discussing them with you.
This week's prompt: What negative thoughts keep running through your head?
I believe sharing and talking about them can help lessen their power. Negative thoughts can be overwhelming and stressful.
Let's get started and share your thoughts with us.
Out of many, the most painful one is: having visuals about your loved ones being dead, parents friends, children
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@jamil88 I'm sorry those painful visuals have been difficult for you. How are you feeling in this moment? Please know you have all of us here with you to listen to and support. You are not alone <3
The most negative thoughts for me for the past 7 years, is being afraid that I'll be single to the last moment of life. These thoughts worsens every year near my birthday.
@Jaeteuk I get it, Jae. I am sorry to hear about your experiences. I can understand why thoughts of being alone and losing loved ones would be painful and upsetting. You deserve to feel hopeful and cared for. What steps are you taking to cope up with these negative thoughts?
There's nothing I can do, I think the best situation is for me not be single anymore. Find my significant other, that way, to the end of my time, there'd be someone beside me. So, either a significant other or a best friend. I haven't had either for 12+ years.
@ASilentObserver
I keep thinking about one... Topic. What I wish it was, what it means to me. It's kept so much negative space in my mind for over twenty years. Sometimes I seek things that remind me of it. It makes me feel like a person who consumes the news articles that are worded to invoke anger and an addiction to feeling high and mighty with one side of the story.
It won't leave me alone. Sometimes it's just in my head in those foggy minutes after I wake up, like I ate something in my dream with a bad aftertaste.
At times it's made me a bit of a bad person to myself. It makes me wish that I could be someone else, almost anyone else. Not because they have it easier, but because I could get a rest from this one thing.
@Torean I hear you torean. I can understand these racing thoughts and painful memories keeping you stuck in a negative space for so long must be difficult. Please take your time and feel free to share all your thoughts and experiences with us. You are not alone in this. <#
@ASilentObserver
My current thoughts are "im a problem" and "I don't deserve to be happy". I had these thoughts for years but I guess they are starting to show up and idk how to heal/rewrite those thoughts... I have threapy tomorrow
@Vivikun9 I am sorry to hear that Viv. I can understand how painful and difficult those thoughts can be. Please know that you absolutely deserve to be happy. Happiness comes from within, not from what others say or do. I hope your therapy session tomorrow provides you comfort and helps you begin to challenge those old beliefs. You've got this!
For me the most negative thing that keeps running in my head is that my close friends have abandoned me. For some reason they have stopped chatting with me as before and I keep wondering why. This loops continuously in my head and I am very depressed. Somehow they do not respond to anything I sent although I assured them they have been very good to me before.
@sympatheticOrange8782 I'm sorry to hear you're feeling depressed and abandoned. That must be an awful feeling. Know that you are worthy, and you have all of us here with you to listen to and support. You are not alone in this and take all your time to share and talk about your experiences and emotions. You got this.
Hi, many thanks. I real appreciate it. Unfortunately most people don't know about depression so perhaps that's why they are not aware of what helps or not. I am going through it day by day trying to get stronger to be alone. It will be difficult to swallow such a sudden friendship break. I feel like I was careless in believing it would be the same all the time.
A negative thought that holds me down and back often are: you aren't worthy/aren't enough.
I can follow a schedule and do all the things that are good for me, but I always fall off and have a really hard time getting back up and running again. The fear of "failing" and not being able to be whatever unrealistic thing society has set for me or rules I stick on myself are often hard to shake off sometimes.
@doeji I understand. Those negative thoughts can be exhausting and demoralizing. It's hard when life doesn't go as planned or when you don't meet your own unrealistic expectations. Please know that you are enough, just as you are. Focus on being kind to yourself - you deserve that. You have all of us here to support you.
Currently, my thoughts tell me that I'm worthless, rotting and that there is nothing I should look forward to.
@RoxRoot I am sorry to hear that, root. I can understand feeling that way. Those thought patterns can be so painful and difficult to navigate. Please know that you are not alone in having self-critical thoughts, and that there is hope. You are not alone in this. We are all here with you to listen to and support you. Are you trying any strategy or way to help shift your perspective to a more compassionate one?
Thank you for the kind reply.
I've tried journaling a bit and setting small easily achievable goals before, but that's about it. Didn't really work for me.
@RoxRoot I understand, there are many tools and strategies out there and not everything works for everyone. The most important thing is that you keep exploring and find what helps you. Let's focus on what has worked, even a little bit, and build on your strengths. You've got this!
I ask myself why am I alive? Or why should I do anything? Why is anything worth doing? Who even cares about me? Who wants to hear me say all this stuff about myself? Why didn't I do anything all day? I start feeling pathetic and worthless.
@Vale51 I understand the difficult thoughts and feelings you expressed. Please know that you matter and we are all here with you to listen to and support. What steps are you taking to cope up with these difficult thoughts?
I've talked about it on the healthy gamer ***, and I started talking about it here yesterday. And apart from that, when those thoughts come, recently I've been trying to remember some anchor thoughts, which are positive affirmations that I've thought of before, as a response to negative thoughts. They are things like I'm a good person, I deserve a chance, I deserve people caring about me
@Vale51 I'm happy to hear you are exploring helpful strategies to care for your mental health and support yourself. Remembering positive affirmations and anchoring thoughts during difficult times can help shift your mindset and find more peace. You deserve to be happy and cared for. What moments, no matter how small, leave you feeling a sense of peace within? What changes have you noticed in your thoughts and spirit since discovering new ways to quiet anxious worries?
A lot of wondering about the reason for living. If I think about it too much, I get trapped. What’s the point? I don’t care about anything.
Sometimes I think I’m destined to commit, and it gets harder and harder to fight.
@CherryBlossoms246 I understand feeling trapped in difficult thoughts can be painful. Please know that this too shall pass. You matter, and there are small acts of kindness each day that make the world better We will get through this together. You are not alone.
My thoughts tell me I’m disgusting, I don’t deserve to be happy. i don’t deserve to act sad cuz it affects other ppl. I’m selfish. I’m evil. I’m going to rot in ***. I don’t deserve the satisfaction of death. I don’t deserve to live. I make the world a bad place by being in it. I’m hurting ppl by being alive. Yeah basically I’m evil 😈
@AdventureCode345 I understand this is difficult. Your thoughts do not define who you are - you deserve to be happy and live a fulfilling life surrounded by people who love you. What steps are you taking to challenge these negative thoughts?
Rn I’m just distracting myself. I have so many smaller but not small things that I need to work through first.
@AdventureCode345 I understand, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate at the moment. Focusing your energy on one thing at a time can help make things feel more manageable. Please know that you don't have to go through this alone. We are al here with you to listen to and support <3
