To find it crazy that some people actually have a CLEAR mind?!

[onestepps]

I'm just finished following one of my therapy sessions for my anxiety disorder. I have explained the things I struggle with and how I feel as though I have a constant trail of worries in my mind 24-7. I don't feel like my brain ever actually STOPS! It's one thing after another.

Obviously I realise this isn't necessarily normal, but of course nobody really knows what is.

But I find it amazing to think that there are people out there that wake up, go about their day, and go home etc with absolutely no worries in their minds at ALL! This just sounds foreign to me, I would love to experience a day like that!!

Isn't it absolutely amazing!

I'd like time to stop for a few weeks. A week for the million and one jobs/errands. A week to purge and deep clean EVERYTHING so I'm starting from a clean slate again with housework etc. A week to sleep in, do anything I WANT to do. That's 3 weeks without being asked for snacks, having to pick up after anyone else or have others add to jobs list. Then time can resume and I think I'd be a much better person for a few years 😊
I too have an insane number of thoughts whizzing about at all times. I often wake up already mentally singing some god awful song that's stuck in my head, and that just runs on repeat in my mental background while I think all the other thoughts and worries for the day, often multiple at once or just running into each other all the time. My therapist gently told me that while very occasionally overthinking may be helpful, I do it in a catastrophising way which almost always just burdens me

@Purplechicken207 yes, same issue here. All of my worries and thoughts are negative and worst case scenario!

I think someone who has no worries is clearly a bit dim with zero critical thinking skills.

Or a sociopath.

I feel for you, but consider the amount of "useless" information we are all bombarded with, day in, day out, whether we want it or not. About 90% of the information we receive just cannot be processed or is irrelevant to us, but still there.
Try going for a week without any social media, switch off all notifications. Check e-mails twice a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. Respond to anything that needs a reply, bin the rest.
You need to be able to decide what is important for you and prioritise that - make a list, break larger tasks down into individual stages and work through them.
Ask yourself the question "can I do anything to change or influence this situation?" If you can, do it, if not, forget it.
To give you an example: Cost of living rises

1. Can you change the whole situation, no!
2. Can you look at your personal situation and assess whether there are any steps you can take in your life to lessen the effects?

Stop "what iffing". If you find yourself going down that route, make it about you with concrete actions to mitigate.

I have a mind that is constantly busy too. I have found that rather than trying to have a clear mind it is more relaxing to do a physical activity that needs total concentration. For example I like to do dancing I have to concentrate on the steps and get a break from thinking about anything else.

I have a super active mind as well op. I know it will always take me around an hour or more to calm my mind enough to fall asleep at night. I’ll lie there with it racing. I find boring tasks help to eventually calm it at night like going a-z in the alphabet and finding items in a shop for each letter.
also ADs, don’t start and stop, no wonder you’re feeling all over the place. I found it hard to get on them, lots of side effects but feel great now. I think some of us need a top up of serotonin

@Lilyhatesjaz basically mindfulness! Anything that's completely grossing is so good for you. The mindfulness industry is booming because so many of us cannot switch off, try colouring, a jigsaw, painting, sudoku?

Colouring, jigsaw, sudoku suggestion etc was for the OP

My brain is busy but I'm not worried. 😕
I'm often problem solving & trying to understand better, but not fretting.

I have no idea how some people have so much energy to worry about everything. Life actually is tough, why make it so much tougher. Do you reckon you can control it all, is that why cling to fiction that worrying will make it better? My other theory is that worriers truly believe they are bad (inferior, loser, something) people unless they worry, that it's negligent not to fret all the time. That's why they can't relax and say "fuck it, it will sort itself out."

Deep down, maybe they derive self-esteem from their perceived moral high ground from being constant worriers.

Or maybe they are just more energetic than me. I'm not sure !!

talk Therapy will help you sort through the thoughts and it’s feels like exercising I find.

writing it down is like cleansing.

meditating, in which ever form you find suits you (trial and error) gives you the unadulterated pleasure of a clear mind, even for a little bit.

if you can’t do any of that sometimes swimming in the chaos is the best way, going with the wave.

Meditation

GTD - Dave Allen

My mind is constantly whirring and chatting and mulling over/wandering down a million trains of thought, worries, ideas etc. It’s one reason I’m an introvert and need time alone - I need to be able to hear my mind. I have done mindfulness and it was very useful, but it wasn’t about clearing your mind, just letting thoughts pass through and letting them go, and acknowledging your busy mind.

however when I was a lot younger I used to do yoga and the teacher would say “just empty your mind and think of nothing”. I would think wtf are you talking about, how is that possible?

lljkk worrying can be like pain or fear, it’s just a thing that’s happening, not a decision. I’m inclined to worry about everything and it’s exhausting, and I can see I’m doing it unnecessarily, but that doesn’t make it stop. Your brain can just be set to a high worry level, sometimes as a result of early childhood experiences. Tbh the only thing that deals with it is meds. I still worry but nothing like what I do when not medicated for it. It’s just what my brains is like.

I don’t feel morally superior about it at all - but I will admit I hate if I’m on a plane and i momentarily forget to worry. It’s part of my worrying that I feel like I need to worry constantly to keep it in the air. I know that’s bonkers.

Hmm sounds like adhd to me. I have it
Adhd medication has helped a lot to quieten my mind

Another vote for ADHD here.
I also find really intense cardio massively helpful.

I have no actual worries per se and I am none of them things. I catastrophise though and it causes me untold anxiety. No matter how well things are going I will find the tiniest thing and obsess about it and how it could get worse or whatever and it just takes over my thoughts. I am in therapy and also getting reiki currently which is a new thing but my god what I would not give for my brain to just shut the fuck up. Its crazy cos my life is the best it has ever been.

I think someone who has no worries is clearly a bit dim with zero critical thinking skills

OK, I'll bite to this dim-witted nonsense.

I have blood cancer caused by a DNA mutution. The one I have might, in time, mutate into acute myeloid leukamia. Should I lie awake worrying what my DNA has in store for me or do I trust the specialists who monitor me every three months and tell me worrying's the worse thing I can do (along with googling it, which I don't) and trust that the chances of a further mutation are very small. In other words, what do I achieve by worrying about it, apart from making myself feel worse?

And FTR, I'm not at all dim and my critical thinking skills are top notch.

Most days my mind is clear and worry-free. It all started when I was travelling through Indo-China and would regularly spend 24+ hours on the most awful bus/train journeys. Learning to empty my mind was the thing that got me through them!

My mind worked well until I experienced two extreme traumas during my teens then it sort of froze in two parts that no longer connected. I continued in this way for almost two decades. Then I was diagnosed with PTSD and provided with EMDR therapy which was life-changing, part of the frozen part melted away. I still had a lot of anxieties flitting about but at least I had all of my mind in the same time zone! Some years later, I was diagnosed with ADHD and told that it was likely triggered by the trauma. I was prescribed with a drug that literally put my mind back into working order. From that day on, I have been able to sleep through the night, focus on my work, and park any anxieties until I have time and energy to find solutions. My work output has tripled and I am much more organised and easier to be around.

It might be that your difficulties could be similarly helped?

Er, why? I don't have worries really. Things are fine for me day to day and big things that could potentially affect me in the future like war and climate change - I can't control that so I just don't see the point worrying about them.

See I don't really worry about big global / climate things so much as I do family and friends.
Worries span from health of myself and my loved ones, loosing those I love, death, road accidents, Im always checking up on everyone to make sure they're okay. I worry about how I come across, how I'm perceived.. if my work colleagues like me.. it's just constant

I think, you know when you're in holiday and your only worries are whether to go for a walk or a meal? That's the only time my mind is free.
I've only been on one family holiday with my dp and children as we prioritised saving for a house deposit and that one week was so stressless. I am a big worrier and I'm the kind if person who knows at the back of their mind all day that a Teddy fell behind the sofa so I need to clean under the sofa. plan for christmas in August. replay arguments (some that haven't even happened) in my mind. I still think about that time I went to cross the road and had to step back because of a car. 'I bet everyone in the houses around saw that and laughed at me'
😅
it's getting better with age but I can 'feel' the to do list. I even still feel the need to sort through my wardrobe and sort my clothes. I haven't had a wardrobe for 3 years and I moved from that place 2 years ago! 😳 but it's still on my mind daily.

minimalism and a cleaner would help but... I can't get there with a family of 6

I have learnt over many years not to worry about things. My test is always “can I do anything about this right now?” If the answer is no, I pack it away. But this has taken time and effort on my part. It doesn’t mean I don’t ever have worries, but I can set them aside and not let them interfere with my life. You have to make a conscious effort to do this at first but over time it gets easier.

I also find it helps to look at the bigger picture. People can let their mind fill with what are really quite minor worries or things that might not even happen. I’ve learnt to let a lot of that go, but again it takes effort at first.

Very interesting thread. I also can never seem to switch off, catastrophize things, it’s so exhausting. I never used to be like this and I put it down to being a parent. I’m not a helicopter Mum by any means but I find being responsible for others so overwhelming I could weep. I dream of just being by myself completely, with no obligations to anyone or anything.