Do you ever find yourself ruminating about the past?  Maybe you are caught in a loop of “if only” – wanting to turn back what happened in the past or stuck in a feeling of why is this happening to me today.  Perhaps you worry you made a stupid comment at school, work or with friends or family?  You surmise if you had talked more on your date then s/he would have called you back.  Maybe you are afraid other parents think you are a bad mother because they heard you yell at your child at school.

STOP.  Realize that these negative thoughts are harming you so take immediate action to combat them.

1.  Put your thoughts in prospective by considering that you are looking at only looking at part of the picture.  You may be focusing on one comment in the meeting  and come across splendidly for the rest.  Even if you did make a “stupid” comment, did anyone notice?  Will they remember next week?  We tend to focus in on the one negative thing we hear and exclude most of the positive.

2.  We only know our own thoughts.  It is frustrating and a waste of time to try to guess at what others are thinking.  You don’t know why your date didn’t call and you are torturing yourself by questioning your date’s behavior.  Take action instead.  Get out – find an activity you enjoy and meet people.  Your mood will improve so you will be ready if the right person comes along.

3.  We all make mistakes.  Try not to judge yourself at a higher standard than you would your friends.  If you saw another mom yell at her child in public, you would probably relate well to the frustration she was feeling and even feel empathetic towards her. It makes sense to let yourself be imperfect the way you would a friend.

So, if you sitting at home, feeling anxious and depressed about the past or the future, put all the energy you can into challenging your thinking and force yourself to take action and distract your mind by getting out.