I’ve always been a pessimistic person, even though I usually don’t say it out loud. A lot of times the negative thoughts come like a tide and start bringing me down. They are a part of who I am. That’s why I had to find ways of how to cope with that. I have developed a few techniques for myself during the years. And trust me, I have a big experience in dealing with negative thoughts.
It started early. I’ve always been the odd kid in school and I was picked on very often. This caused my negative thoughts to increase and look at life with a more negative view. But I knew that if I wanted to feel good I had to find a way, some technique that must work.
And here they are, in case you may need them.
5 ways how I handle my negative thoughts:
1. Willful ignore – just forget about it!
I willfully exclude the fact I’m going through something bad. As if this is not existing. I say to myself ‘Imagine negative thoughts aren’t here. Everything else goes well. This seemed to work for me ever since my teenage years, whenever I would feel down or depressed due to my negative thoughts. Just willfully ignore them and focus on other things.
2. Doing my hobbies intensely
Going to my hobbies very deep was one of the best techniques I developed during the years. From one side they distract me from the negative thoughts. Apart from that, I’m doing something I enjoy and I’m good at and that gives me the vibes of positive thinking, that I actually am doing it well. It could be anything, as long as it is your thing, don’t forget you’re doing this for yourself.
3. Remove toxic people from your life
That’s the first thing I learned that really helps me a lot. If you have negative thoughts, another source of negativity will only make it worse for you and this source can be other toxic people in your life, this could include friends, family, love partner. You don’t need them. Cut them loose!
4. Think about the things you’ve achieved
Every time I have negative thoughts, I willfully recall all the times I’ve achieved something. Even if it is not that big or important in other people’s eyes, it is an achievement of mine and no one can touch that, not even my negative thoughts, they respect that.
5. Exercising – sweat it out!
I found this by accident really. I’ve heard the cliché of “work out and you will feel good, it is natural” but I never really bought this idea. But once I started, just to say I gave it a go, I felt amazed. The good feeling in my body from head to toe. I found that sport is a great motivator and killer of negative thoughts. Your body reacts well, your mind follows. A workout is something personal. Something you do with your body and your own effort. Every time I had negative thoughts I would work out hard and just kick the negativity off. Even better, I established a regular – 3 times per week workout routine. It works perfectly like an anxiety deterrent.
I have my life and love it!
Dealing with negative thoughts can be hard but not impossible and I’m a pure example of this. How I handle my negative thoughts helped me have a life! Now I am a social work student and I’m dealing with things as they come, with the help of these techniques.
I know that life can be hard but I also know I am stronger than any obstacle because negative thoughts are just not enough to stop you from what you want.