Anxiety getting you down? How to reframe your thoughts.

Have you ever laid awake at night and worried about a meeting or a bill coming due? You spend the whole night stressing, your stomach tangling into knots, only to find the next day that the meeting went smoothly and the bill got paid.

Anxiety can twist our thoughts into worrying scenarios that never come to be, but stress us needlessly in the process. If you constantly find yourself stressing about scenarios that aren't even real, or haven't happened yet, you can make it better by reframing your thoughts.

You can reframe any thought that bothers you into something more positive, no matter what, but here are the types most useful for reframing:

Self limiting

“I'll never be able to run a marathon because I'm too fat and slow.”

When you say you can't do something, you are mentally limiting that behavior. Instead, reframe it into something more positive. “I can't run a marathon yet, but I can walk for 5 minutes and I couldn't do that before.”

Missing out

Perhaps you had a great weekend camping out with the kids in your backyard, only to discover your friends spent the weekend on a spur of the moment trip to the beach. Seeing their social media pictures of crisp blue waves and summer fun may make you feel like you missed out, even if you had a wonderful time with the kids.

Instead of focusing on what you missed out on, cherish those special, and perfectly good moments, you had.

Kicking Yourself

Did you make a big mistake? Maybe you turned down a street you hoped would be a shortcut and discovered construction instead, or you didn't study hard enough and failed a test. In these cases you can reframe it through self improvement. “Instead, I'll take this street next time,” or “I'll try hands on learning next time since textbook reading didn't work for me.”

Reframing your thoughts might not change your life, but it will make it much more stressful and enjoyable.