Strategies for stopping anxious/negative thoughts

[ByDreamyMintNewt]

Hi there,

I just had my third child a week ago. So far he is lovely - feeding and sleeping as well as can be expected and generally content. More than anyone could ask for. My other children are happy and excited by their new sibling too.

Throughout my pregnancy, I had a lot of anxiety - after two children who we are very happy with, there were moments where all I could see were my worries and negatives about having one more. I also had lots of excitement and happiness, but very much a mixed bag of emotions.

I was hoping that once he was here then the worries would fade away, but I still find myself ruminating on all the things that could go wrong and negative possibilities about the future.

Has anybody got any strategies they've found helpful to break the cycle of negative and anxious thoughts?

Thank you.

It sounds very tough and I can relate up to a certain point.

I find one thing somewhat helpful: ask yourself what is the possibility of something negative actually happening? In reality it's extremely small and hopefully that can bring you some comfort. Try to reframe your thoughts about it, it's hard work and might not always be successful but it's worth a try.

Do you think you would benefit from professional help though? No shame in asking.

Best of luck to you! x

Set aside a bit of time every day to worry and be anxious. I find doing it when doing an activity that has a fixed end point help. Whilst in the shower, or doing the washing up or when I had a short walk home from work. I find the more I try to just shutdown the thoughts the louder they get and to them it's really important I hear the thoughts. Then when they crop up during the day I'm strict with no not your time yet and when the worry time is over acknowledge them. thank you, dropping the baby whilst walking down the stairs would be bad. I'll be careful on the stairs.
I have a loud internal voice which is where a lot of my anxiety manifests having a dialogue with them helps me as to my anxious brain the thoughts are really really important and the more they shutdown without air time the more intrusive the thoughts get

Thank you. I've found the past couple of days really tough. Tears have started, a constant feeling of what have I done, we were so perfect before as we were.