Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed by thoughts about things you haven’t done, tasks you haven’t achieved, how little you’ve managed to accomplish during a certain time period?
I know my human, Annie, does – and it seems to me as if a lot of people have these kinds of thoughts running through their head a lot of the time. It must be so exhausting to have that narrative in the background of your mind!
But there is something you can do to call a halt to those thoughts and give yourself some relief – and that’s challenging the narrative.
Our minds often fixate on negative things and it can be difficult to escape thoughts that continually circle around and come back to haunt you. But, if you can take a few moments to stop and really take stock of what’s happening in your life, you might be surprised to find that your thoughts are wrong!
Recently, Annie’s been feeling that she’s not getting anywhere with writing her novel, or with building her freelance editing business. In her mind, she’s failing to achieve her goals because she’s not making good use of her time – and that’s what her thoughts keep telling her. Understandably, that’s been getting her down!
But, when she was talking to some friends about this problem, they pointed out all the things they’ve seen her achieving since the start of the year – and, when Annie looked back and actually itemised all the progress she’s been making, she could see they were right. She’s been working steadily on lots of things and moving forwards all the time, chipping away at her projects over time, even though it may not feel as if that’s the case.
The thoughts that dominate in your mind are often based on fears you have, rather than the facts of the situation. They’re trying to motivate you to work harder, so you can avoid failure – but they don’t often take a particularly objective view of what’s really going on.
So, if you find yourself feeling down about something your brain is telling you, try challenging the narrative with some hard facts. Collect your evidence and check it against your thoughts to see how well they reflect reality. You may find you’re doing better than you thought!
Do let me know if this is something you’ve experienced, or if there’s anything in your life you’d like my thoughts on!
You can email me at wisebearstanley@gmail.com
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