In a country like Jamaica, where few understand and accept the realities around mental illness, and seeing a therapist is not as affordable as one would prefer; individuals afflicted with anxiety disorders will at times find themselves seeking out methods of managing their negative thoughts on their own.

One way to stop overthinking anxious patterns is identifying and accepting that anxiety exists, which is your body’s natural response to stress. Some people manage stress so well that they never really experience severe levels of anxiety while others experience a feeling of fear or insecurity about what is to come.

A feeling of apprehension resides within a person struggling with anxiety. For example, going on a job interview, the act of public speaking or even anticipating a conversation with someone important, causes many people to feel a heightened level of fear and nervousness.

According to Arlin Cuncic, author of Therapy in Focus: What to Expect from
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder, anxiety is an unhelpful thinking style with thought patterns that have the potential to cause negative emotions and behaviours.

Now that you know what anxiety is, you can work on taking control of your thoughts and better your relationships with these six proactive steps:

1. Awareness is the beginning of change

Awareness is learning to identify your habit of thinking by slowing down
meditating and practising mindfulness; it allows you to become conscious or aware of the unhelpful thoughts when it happens, giving you a chance to change how you respond. In that moment, you become an observer of your thoughts, instead of giving in to them.

2. Compartmentalising is control of your thoughts

Recycling is a perfect example of compartmentalisation. It is the act of separating cardboard, plastic and glass into separate containers. Just like recycling, separate and categorise your thoughts for specific situations in their own box in your mind.

The act of compartmentalising is to not give excessive attention to matters or situations that don’t require it. This approach trains the brain to be present in the moment and to not dwell on things unnecessarily.

3. Not taking things personally takes the pressure off

Have you realised that when a person shares their opinions or thoughts, they are expressing themselves out of their own interpretation of what happens? These interpretations stem from beliefs that are formed through personal life experiences, which often is impersonal to you. Therefore, not taking things personally raises emotional intelligence and takes the pressure off you as a person.

4. Step out of your fear to raise self-confidence

Overthinking is caused by fear, arising from worrying about negative results crippling you. Facing fears by visualising positive outcomes and maintaining a habit of positive thinking along the way, can help you redefine their meaning and raise confidence in your own abilities to develop and move forward.

5. Find your best way to release tension

Finding a form of expression, not limited to art, sports or fashion can be a powerful method to release any negative inner thoughts. It’s a way to shed any stress or tension lingering inside your body and raise your mental health overall by releasing endorphin chemicals in the body. Meditating and journaling can also help in organising the thoughts and process experiences accordingly.

6. Try and let go of control and trust your future self

While we cannot have full control of our future, we can choose to enjoy
ourselves today, and every other day. Showing up every day as your best self, knowing you mean well to the world and to those around will help solidify self-confidence and self-trust. When you trust yourself, you develop faith that your future self will always prioritise inner peace, joy, freedom, support and connection towards yourself.

It is important to recognise that anxiety or the steps to overcome anxiety can feel challenging as it requires stepping out of your comfort zone in order to make impactful changes to elevate oneself and reach a higher level of consciousness. The good news is that these steps WORK and wanting to embark on this healing journey is how one can identify that the process of healing has begun and step into an empowered version of your future self.