First steps to fights pessimism

Before you start reading this post, I advise you to have a look at my other post How do we lose our energy? Why do you feel tired all the time? Well, you might think that it is easier to get enough sleep and stop wasting energy than shift your pessimistic mindset. I suggest becoming a realist would be a good start! Let’s see how you can do it.

• Don’t be harsh on yourself expecting that you will easily discredit and remove all your limiting beliefs and negative thoughts. You need time and practice to learn to recognize an irrational or distorted thought, to differ them from other thoughts. Mindfulness will be very helpful here. Also, you need to learn how to stop and dispute your negative inner dialogue.
• Stop overthinking whatever is happening in your life, that is how you get anxious over little things. Stop blaming yourself and feeling responsible for things outside of your control. There might be plenty of other reasons why your family or friends behave this way or another, why they feel upset or offended. Pretty much you need to stop taking things personally when they’re not connected to or caused by you at all.
• Start questioning your irrational ideas and conclusions, all those intrusive thoughts you can’t get rid of. Don’t believe a thought just because it is yours. Carefully evaluate each of your negative thoughts, whether it reflects reality or it is distorted by your core beliefs.
• Do fact-checking! If you can’t back up your negative thought with a valid argument and you believe it just because it seems true, because you feel hurt, then this thought is not worth taking seriously.

Don’t be harsh on yourself expecting that you will easily discredit and remove all your limiting beliefs and negative thoughts. You need time and practice to learn to recognize irrational or distorted thoughts and to differentiate them from other thoughts. Mindfulness will be very helpful here. Also, you need to learn how to stop and dispute your negative inner dialogue, you can start with this post How to defuse intrusive thoughts.

Ⓒ Natalia Ladonycheva
Psychologist and CBT Therapist