As we all go through our days, our minds are constantly thinking about different things, Our thoughts are made up of the stimuli around us, as we walk, drive, and interact with people, as well as our thoughts about situations and issues in our lives. It would be impossible to not think, and on a daily basis, thousands and thousands of thoughts pass through our minds.
For the most part, these thoughts will be general, and for want of a better description, neutral in terms of their affect on us, but there may be some thoughts that are about issues that are worrying us, or about scenarios that we escalate in our minds, typically to a point that may never happen. To illustrate this point, I will use an example relating to me with a problem I had.
I had been worried about a number of bills that needed paying, as I had received quite a few in one go, and I had to work on the best way to meet the payments on time. Now, as it turns out, I was going about my daily business, and during the day, the thought of the bills popped up. For many people, suffering from anxiety, this may traditionally swirl around in their head, and they may then start to imagine the 'what ifs' scenarios. This may include a thought like "what if I can't pay this on time?".
Whilst this is a logical thought process, it is not one that will reduce your anxiety. In many cases, where people have problems is that they latch on to these thoughts that cause distress and create more and more, as they imagine more and more worst case outcomes. It's like a dangerously out of control slippery slide. Having explained one possible situation that many other people may also face, let's look at the best ways to handle it.
In my view, the worst thing you can do, is ignore the problem, but on the other hand, letting it well up inside is no better either. Without doubt, the solution that has proven to work best for me, and many other people, is to accept the problem or thought, and thus, even though you still need to do something about it at some time, by accepting it, you give your mind permission to move on.
You may still have the thought moving around in your head, but you won't be fighting it, which allows other thoughts to move in over it, in time. I fully appreciate that this is relatively easy for me to say, and yes, it will take some practice on your part, but this acceptance, or taking the path of least resistance is instrumental in helping you to release your anxiety and not be controlled by it.
