Anxious Thoughts? Tips to Rein in Your Ruminating Mind

Are you someone who deals with anxiety on a regular basis? Do you often feel as if nothing you do helps ease your worries? If you answered yes to either of those, you are not alone in this struggle. There is an estimate that 6.8 million adults cope with anxiety-related disorders each year.

Knowing how to manage your anxiety symptoms is often a challenge in itself.  You want to feel better but you just aren't sure how to begin. One of the best places to begin taking control of your anxiety is through your thoughts.

Our anxiety and symptoms often stem from ruminating thoughts. These are the thoughts that continually run through your mind. Ruminating thoughts can be dangerous as they can either intensify or prolong anxiety or worries. Learning how to stop these thoughts can help you manage your anxiety in the long and short terms. Below, here are tips to rein in rumination and not let your thoughts control you.

1. Find Distractions

When you find that your thoughts are beginning to cycle again, try to find something that distracts you from them. One of the best ways to do this is through grounding exercises. You can distract your mind from the ruminating thought by identifying:

1. One thing you can smell

2. Something you can see

3. One thing you can taste

4. Something you can touch

5. One thing you can hear

By the time you get through this small exercise, you should find that you are no longer focusing on the troublesome thoughts. In addition to grounding exercises, you can try going for a short walk, reading a book, or even journaling to help ease the stress of your thoughts.

2. Ask Yourself If The Thought Is Valid

The worst part about anxiety is the things it tries to tell us about ourselves.

Often, thoughts become stuck in our minds if we believe we did something wrong. Or if we feel responsible for something that happened. Or, even if we are worried about something happening that may not even occur. When any of these types of thoughts occur, they will just repeat in our brain. Instead of letting these thoughts control you, question their validity.

Ask, "What is the proof of this thought? Where is my evidence that this is the case? Is this really as bad as my mind is making it out to be?" As you question your ruminating thoughts more often, over time, you may find that they have less power over you.

3. Know What Triggers Them

This one can be more difficult to nail down, but it can definitely be done. It seems as if that the thoughts that begin ruminating in our minds just appear out of nowhere, right? Actually, that isn't always the case. In most instances, ruminating thoughts begin because something is triggering them.

This won't have an immediate impact, but you can take some steps to begin understanding what is triggering rumination. One of the best ways is through journaling. You can either do this directly on your phone or through pen and paper. Whenever you begin having a recurring thought, write it out. Try to identify:

1. Who you are around

2. Where you are at

3. The time the thought occurred

4. What happened that day

5. Events going on later on in the week

Identifying these thoughts and when they happen will help you to control them in the future. It will let you see any specific triggers that are coming up.

4. Set Expectations & Realistic Goals

Finally, reining in ruminating thoughts is possible when you set reasonable expectations. Too often, our anxiety and worries stem from wondering if we are enough or did enough. You can break this cycle by knowing that you set realistic goals for yourself. And, if you don't succeed in the way you want to, forgive yourself for your mistakes.

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Ruminating thoughts can completely control your life, but you don't have to let them. Reach out to us for support with anxiety therapy. Learn tools to break unproductive thought cycles and start devoting more energy to the life you want.