One of the major challenges of having anxiety is when you have all of these catastrophic thoughts that do not stop. It can prevent your from living your life to the fullest if you feel like you can guess what the worst case scenario is for every situation. By trying thought-stopping techniques by Ladders Magazine, you will learn how to think through the anxiety and be able to curb your anxiety much more effectively.
Scattered Counting
Counting to ten may help with anxiety, but it is a different story with anxiety. If people with anxiety tries that technique, they will still focus more strongly on their anxiety. It is better for the counting to be scattered. This means start with any number and then jump around. It can be any random order of number like 15, 23, 42, 87, etc. You will concentrate more coming up with the next number when you think about what it will be. Thinking more about upcoming numbers will take your mind off of your troubling thoughts.
Verbal Interruption
Another good way to stop thoughts in their tracks is by interrupting them with your voice. You can either speak out loud if you are comfortable or speak to yourself in your head. Whenever your worries are beginning to take over, speak “Stop!” or “Enough!” or “Not now!” This will force you take a pause. Do this as many times as you want to clear your mind.
Positive Self-Talk
If you are experiencing negative or scary thoughts, reconstruct them into powerful and positive thoughts. Instead of thinking, “There is no way I will be able to pull off this recipe,” think instead “I am going to do my best to follow the instructions of the recipe and hope it will taste great.” Keep coaching yourself through each anxious thought until the negative thoughts fade away. Once you get through your worries and reconstruct them all, congratulate yourself on the task.
Worst-Case Scenario
It may seem strange to think of the worst-case scenario since people with anxiety naturally go there. You should still create a story in your head of what would happen if the worst occurred. By picturing the solution to that scenario, you will be confident that you can handle it the same way you did in your head. These thought-stopping techniques for your anxiety will allow you to prevent your thoughts from controlling you.
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