I read a great article the other day, the title was “
How to Stop Freaking Out All the Time” and it really applied to my day-to-day life. At a moment’s notice I can freak out about the littlest things! It’s not healthy for me to be that anxious and it’s not fun to be around, I get it. Yet, it’s so easy to do. Over the years I have tried to change my way of thinking, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but I will continue trying. When I’m tired I tend to fall back on old habits and freak out so here are some tips that I found helpful, maybe you will too:
- Just the facts - meaning, focus on just what is happening – make it just about that, no generalizations. So, does everyone really hate you all of a sudden or did you just not get a response to the text you sent your friend 5 minutes ago? Your husband never, ever listens to you?! Or did you just try talking to him while he was watching the last few minutes of the Brewers game? Yeah, that may or may not have happened in our household.
- “Stop exaggerating”- actually, I disagreed here because I find that over exaggerating out loud helps me with this. As an example, back in school when I was worried about doing poorly on a test I would say out loud to myself how I think this will turn out, with some exaggerations: “I’m going to fail this one test. Then I’m going to fail all my other classes. School will kick me out, I’ll never get a job and I’ll end up living under a bridge- all because of this one test! Just try it next time you’re about to overreact. It sounds so ridiculous out loud that you shake your head, tell yourself you are being dramatic and move on.
- Meditate: Even if you don’t see yourself trying meditation, just view it as taking a few minutes to go sit and focus on your breathing. Try it at your desk or in the car.
- “Remember, there is no scoreboard”- no one is keeping track of all your slipups. I like to remind myself “it’s not all about you, get over yourself and keep moving forward” which may sound harsh but I have found that little reminder very helpful in certain situations.
How do you get yourself to stop overreacting and keep things in perspective?