Many people who struggle with low self-esteem also deal with ruminating thoughts. Typically, when we feel insecure about ourselves, we’ll go down a rabbit hole of negative thoughts that describe how we think about ourselves. By doing some or all of these things, you can reduce your ruminating thoughts drastically. Ruminating thoughts often take over our minds when we’re not doing well. If you’re struggling to keep your thoughts under control, consider making healthy changes to your mental and physical well-being.
For example, suppose you ruminate over an upcoming job interview and can’t get self-defeating thoughts out of your mind. Learn why we have intrusive thoughts, when they may become a problem, and how to manage them. Here are some strategies that can help you manage racing thoughts, plus insight into what may be causing them. Be sure to speak with a friend who can give you that perspective rather than ruminate with you. Move forward with each step slowly and incrementally until your mind is put at ease.
When constant rumination causes you anxiety or influences all of your decisions too heavily, it can become extremely debilitating. We asked experts to help us explain why it happens and how to stop ruminating for good. Have you ever thought back on an experience again and again, for years after it happened and potentially years to come?
Talking about your thoughts with a friend who can offer an outside perspective may help break the cycle. Setting more realistic goals that you’re capable of achieving can reduce the risks of overthinking your own actions. As when a ball is rolling downhill, it’s easier to stop the ruminating thoughts when they first start rolling and have less speed than when they’ve gathered speed over time. Once you get stuck in a ruminating thought cycle, it can be hard to get out of it.
Mediating effects of peace of mind and rumination on the relationship between gratitude and depression among Chinese university students. This form of rumination focuses on actions you took in the past or want to take in the future. People may excessively think about how to achieve a goal, achieve a desired outcome, or correct past mistakes. Because stopping rumination is a skill, you need to practice to get better at it. useful Ability Toolbox post some of the activities below, as they may help stop your rumination. Rumination is closely tied to depression and anxiety in a few ways — it can be a symptom of both, make them worse, or make you more susceptible to them in the first place.
This vicious cycle shows how rumination maintains and reinforces itself. That being said, rumination is often defined as a repetitive thought cycle focusing on causes, consequences, and symptoms of one’s current negative state. One way to put an end to these negative ruminative cycles is by “”taking a break””. Basically, we decide what we’ll do instead once we start ruminating.
After receiving criticism about our work, we may anticipate future remarks directly linked to our feelings about behavior linked to the original criticism. Taking on a task that requires your full attention can provide some much-needed relief from repetitive thoughts. Before you know it, you’ll have gone a whole day without ruminating once. A problem shared is a problem halved, which is why it’s important to get things off your chest when you feel they are weighing you down, so try talking to a friend – or seek professional help.
Change what you can and learn to accept what you can’t. Practice new reactions to stressful situations and challenge yourself over time to end the obsessive thoughts. Even negative events that happen in your life are learning opportunities.
If it’s initially difficult to engage in any activity due to having trouble disengaging from your thoughts, you might want to try thought stopping. You can try this by thinking or saying to yourself “STOP,” or even envisioning a big red STOP sign to help change your attention. Different skills are helpful to manage rumination and it’s important to think about the context to match the skills accordingly. You can use it anytime you would like assistance with ruminating thoughts or anytime you would like to relax.