Dealing with Negative Thoughts
Heya Friends <3
I struggle alot with negative thoughts. I made this post with cool resources that help myself manage my bad thoughts. I hope you like the infographics that I put in this post because they help me out alot when I am struggling with my negative self talk. Also, it's okie to feel negative because we can't feel positive all of the time and we can't control our feelings. We can only control our actions to those feelings. Having negative thoughts doesn't make you bad and it helps when people remind me of that. Dealing with negative thoughts doesn't mean you have to fake positivity. I used to think it meant that. These resources can maybe help you identify those negative thoughts, recognize them, challenge them, plan out your ways to cope and then move on from them
Quick Steps to Changing a Negative Thought
Identify the trigger that causes the thought
What is the actual thought?
How does the thought make you feel?
List evidence that does not support the thought
Replacement thought (reframe it)
How does the reframed thought make you feel?
Common Thought Ruts
If you have trouble recognizing your negative thoughts don't worry. It takes alot of practice to get better at it. Here's an infographic on common disordered thinking patterns that keep you stuck in negative cycles. Once you get better at indentifying which of your thoughts fits unhealthy patterns then you can work on challenging them to make them better. This is hard for me to do but I keep trying everyday and sometimes I don't try but that's okie too.
I struggle alot with catastrophizing, blaming, should's, personalization, and mind-reading. Do you see any thought ruts that you struggle with?
Thoughts are not Facts
Just because we think a thought in our head, it doesn't mean that the thought is always true. This skill is a hard one for me because I think alot of my negative thoughts are true and they have alot of power over me. When I am feeling stuck in my head, I try to catch a negative thought and do the activity below. Did this practice activity help you?
Positive Self Talk
To get rid of negative self talk you have to trade it for positive self talk. If you get stuck and have trouble replacing the negative ones this graphic has 10 cool ways to do positive self talk. Personally, I like tip #1 which would you say this thought to someone else like a friend? Because if you wouldn't say it to a friend then it's not okie to say it to yourself. I also like idea #5 about how to laugh off your inner critic when it's being mean to you. Do you have a favorite one?
If you want to post in this thread about resources, any strategies you use for dealing with negative thoughts, a current thought challenge you have right now, or even a success story of how you over came a negative thought it would be cool to read about your post here <3
*gives a round of applause* This is so filled with detailed information and ways to handle negative thoughts, Sam! Great job for another wonderful post c: I love this!
@Erato
Thanks Era that means alot to me <3
Love this! I can definitely relate to some of those negative thought patterns - the two that tend to hit me are the "shoulds" and the "mind-reading".
For me, what's most effective with the shoulds is taking the sassy little kid inside of me and talking back - "Says who?" "Oh, yeah?" "You're not the boss of me!" - challenging the thought that tells me what I should be doing lets me see whether there's a real and logical reason I need to do something or if it's an unnecessary and unhelpful thought.
For the mind-reading, I try to remember to ask myself how I know that - is it because of something they have said directly to me, or is it an assumption that I'm making?
@Anomalia
I like that alot by telling that voice it's not the boss of you <3 I have a little sass in me too, okie maybe alot sometimes :')))))
Here's some more quicks tips for managing negative thoughts
Hello check GP Walsh on YouTube he is amazing and he explains a lot
*fist bump*