Repsive Thoughts on a ramble.
Be here now. Be present. Practice presence. Be where your feet are.
Ooh that last one’s a favorite like cherry pie. I said what I said.
In the land of recovery from addiction- alcohol, other drugs, shopping, gambling, whatever ye poison may be- these phrases and others like them come up a lot, usually around moving through a triggering event or scenario. I don’t have triggering events very often anymore, with my alcohol monster. That one rarely stirs these days, but the anxiety monster sure as fuck does.
Repetitive or Intrusive Thoughts are favorite party tricks of the anxiety monster. Both, really. Sometimes I can only tell them apart bc one makes my mouth water and that one is not anxiety. Side thought, I wish there were a word that means both of those things at the same time. Repsive Thoughts. There, done. [smacks hands together in triumphant exclamation of victory over… GDI I forgot already.]
oh right. Repsive Thoughts. When my anxiety monster is lurking around, trying to plot an extended stay, the Repsive Thoughts are usually on fucking fire. Usually worst-case scenarios, played out in excruciating detail in my visual-thinking/ processing brain. These times are what those sayings are for. Be here now.
Don’t follow that anxiety monster down some terrible rabbit hole full of doom and gloom and heartache and destruction.
Don’t let that anxiety monster steal all your mental energy and fuck up your emotions- bring your thoughts back to this moment, to what’s actually happening.
Stop imagining things that haven’t happened and may never happen- even if your brain knows they COULD happen technically speaking- bc it’s not fucking helpful and it’s making you miserable. Imaging an awful scenario over and over won’t make it any less awful should it actually happen. Get back here. Be in this moment right here.
Count your fingers and your toes. Narrate what you’re doing - IN THIS MOMENT. Name five things you see. Focus on your exhales and make them longer. Etcetera etcetera ETCETERA.
There you go.
Keep going.
Hight fives for badass bitches [high fives the air, with enthusiasm]