- Home›
- Mates & Me›
- 7 Tips To Help You Stop Thinking Negative
7 Tips To Help You Stop Thinking Negative
By: Kratika Fri, 24 Dec 2021 1:42:42
It’s never easy to know if you’re a negative thinker. At times, even the most logical of people could secretly be dwelling on negative thoughts. Negative thinking starts off as an explanation to unexplainable circumstances in your life. So you need to learn how to stop negative thinking before it rules your life.
We can’t always control our thoughts, but that doesn’t mean we should let ourselves succumb to our negative thoughts. It’s challenging to avoid dwelling in negative thinking, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Negative thinking is basically dwelling on your negative thoughts. It’s when you focus on the pessimistic approach to everything in life, whether it’s relationships, career, or even how you see yourself. People who tend to think negatively often are held back because they focus on this negativity.
Instead of seeing the positive side of things, you focus on everything that can go wrong. This is also why people who tend to think negatively are also massive overthinkers. Even before it happens or even when there isn’t enough evidence to suggest a negative outcome, the assumption is always negative.
# Stop presuming the worst
Your friends forget to call you when they’re meeting up, you think they’re avoiding you. Your friends forget your birthday, you think they hate you. A friend drives past you without waving a hello because they didn’t see you, and you think they’re ignoring you.
Look, we know how easy it is to assume the worst, but you’ve got to stop thinking that way. Don’t keep making negative assumptions all the time because most times, your worst assumptions won’t happen. By chasing your mindset, only then can you learn how to stop negative thinking.
# Stop focusing on other people’s flaws
You think someone’s treating you badly. Or you think your lover doesn’t love you enough. Or you think your boss doesn’t appreciate your work as much as your colleague’s work. Instead of whining about what you aren’t getting, put yourself in their shoes and try to understand why they behave the way they do.
People aren’t and will never be perfect, and that’s life. But you need to realize you aren’t perfect either. Instead of picking on their flaws, focus on yours instead. Always think from the other person’s perspective and you’ll become a better person over time.
# Broaden your perspective
You get the worst deals in life. You think you’re the victim. Do you ever feel like no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can never succeed in your endeavors? Mark Zuckerberg’s so damn rich and everything’s so easy for him, isn’t it? Why can’t you be the one with all the smart ideas? Life isn’t easy.
But life’s fair to the ones who are passionate about it. The people you’re comparing yourself with have a different life and path than yours. If you keep comparing, you won’t get anywhere.
If you truly believe you’re better than everyone else, you’ll get where you want to go someday. Stop playing the part of the victim and go out there and pursue your dream.
# Let yourself depend on others
Are you one of those people who doubt everyone? If you feel like you can’t depend on anyone, you’re a perfectionist. Or you’re someone others shouldn’t trust. No matter how much you’ve been let down in the past, history isn’t going to repeat itself. Stop thinking that you can’t trust anyone and change your approach instead.
People aren’t always out to hurt you. Your life will never improve if you focus on that thinking. Are you one of those people who doubt everyone? If you feel like you can’t depend on anyone, you’re a perfectionist. Or you’re someone others shouldn’t trust.
# Manage your expectations
You may not realize this, but you may think the world revolves around you, and you feel dejected when others don’t treat you the way you want them to treat you. You have to stop putting people on a pedestal as they will never reach your standards or perfection. Your loved ones are human, and so are you.
So they’re allowed to be flawed and imperfect. If you constantly depend on people for all your successes, you’re bound to feel negative when people don’t go out of their way to help you. In other words, you are literally breaking your own heart because of your expectations.
# Learn to accept failure
Look, failure will always be difficult to accept. But that doesn’t mean you should never grow to be capable of accepting failure. People who don’t accept defeat will also never succeed. The world is filled with people who can’t accept it when their friends become more successful.
Avoid bringing luck into the equation of life, or you’ll always find yourself thinking negative about everyone who accomplishes something you don’t.
You’ll always find yourself overwhelmed with envy and jealousy because you can’t accept any kind of failure. If you want to learn how to stop negative thinking, learn to accept you won’t always succeed.
# Stop dwelling on bad memories
You keep count of all the negative things that happen to you. But you never remember the good things in your life. Life is full of bittersweet moments. We promise that even if your life is full of sad and painful moments, there are also good and beautiful ones.
If you only focus on the bad ones without ever appreciating the good, you’ll completely miss out on what life is all about. Try to look at the bright side of things and enjoy the little moments of happiness that come your way all the time.
You need to find the beauty in storms as that’s the only way you will learn how to stop negative thinking. Your bad memories will never define you unless you let them. The choice is all yours.