Have you ever thought about how negative self-talk affects your confidence? Throughout this blog post, we are going to discuss how we can identify and challenge our self-critical thoughts. We will also discuss how to develop a healthier internal dialogue to build our confidence. Our negative and critical internal thoughts can undermine, second-guess, and critique what we do. While being critical of ourselves from time to time is normal, being too critical and negative can influence our mental health, confidence, and self-esteem. When our daily lives become surrounded by negativity and criticism, our self-esteem is greatly impacted, and it causes anxiety and stress and even exacerbates depression.

One common negative thinking pattern is all-or-nothing thinking. All-or-nothing thinking involves seeing things black or white, meaning there is no room for grey areas. Having this negative thinking can lead to us having low self-esteem, low moods, and anxiety. We can work on our all-or-nothing thinking by trying to look for our thoughts that might contain words such as ‘never’ or ‘always’. We can also try to identify when this thinking occurs such as when we are stressed, when we wake up, or when something doesn’t happen the way we expect it.

Another common negative thinking pattern is overgeneralization. Overgeneralization is when we view negative experiences as a set pattern and think that one failure or one negative experience will reoccur in other situations. It also entails thinking that we can’t do anything right and assuming the worst. Overgeneralization can inhibit our confidence, reduce our motivation, and increase anxiety. We can overcome overgeneralization by cognitive restructuring. Cognitive restructuring can help us stop negative self-talk and shift to a more positive relationship with ourselves. To start this, we can challenge our thoughts and question the validity and accuracy of the negative self-talk. Ask yourself questions such as “Is this belief grounded in reality, or just in my imagination?”. This can help dismantle those negative narratives and replace them with a more nuanced point of view. Then, we reframe this thinking and replace it with more positive or balanced ones. When we reframe, we are identifying the unhelpful or negative thoughts and replacing them with empowering and positive ones. For example, “I can no longer do this” to “ I will try again tomorrow.” With regular practice, this can help with the symptoms of anxiety we might be feeling when overgeneralizing. For more support regarding cognitive restructuring, seek support from a therapist to help you reframe your thoughts and provide personal strategies.

Jumping to conclusions is another common negative thinking pattern. It can involve making negative interpretations or assumptions about the future or what other people think, even though there might not be definite facts that support the conclusion. When we jump to conclusions, it can make it difficult to make good decisions for ourselves and can impact our relationships negatively. Jumping to conclusions can contribute to feelings of anxiety, worsen symptoms of depression and anxiety, and negatively affect how we think about ourselves. To keep ourselves from jumping to conclusions, we can focus on alternative outcomes. We can try to focus on a more positive one, or even a less negative one instead of thinking about an extreme negative outcome.

Now, what are some strategies to help us identify our negative thought patterns and shift our mindset? First, we can be more understanding and more kind to ourselves. We should especially do this when we make mistakes, shifting from a judgment mindset to a positive, self-care approach. Shifting to a positive, self-care approach builds emotional resilience and reduces stress. Another strategy is a thought journal. A thought journal can help us log our thoughts to identify our patterns when we engage in negative self-talk. Speaking to someone we trust, such as a therapist or friend, can help us recognize when our patterns are negative versus positive. Trying to recognize our negative thinking patterns can help us become more aware, challenge our negative thinking, and begin to shift our negative thinking with constructive, healthier, and positive thoughts.

Challenging ourselves with new perspectives and experiences can help form a new mindset and this will allow us to gain confidence and build our self-esteem. We can all continuously learn and believe that we can continue to grow. Our mindset plays a significant factor in our life and by shifting to a more positive mindset and having more positive self-talk, we can improve our overall health. If you are facing challenges with negative self-talk and want to shift to a more positive mindset, I am here to help!

References

https://www.calm.com/blog/negative-self-talk#:~:text=Identify%20the%20thought%3A %20Before%20changing,based%20on%20facts%20or%20assumptions%3F

https://sdlab.fas.harvard.edu/cognitive-reappraisal/identifying-negative-automatic-thought- patterns#:~:text=Types%20of%20Common%20Negative%20Thoughts,never%2Dending %20pattern%20of%20defeat.

https://psychcentral.com/health/all-or-nothing-thinking-examples#how-do-you-fix-all-or- nothing-thinking

https://www.therapynowsf.com/blog/cognitive-distortions-understanding- overgeneralization#:~:text=For%20individuals%20who%20suffer%20from,in%20the%20same %20activity%2Ftask

https://www.verywellmind.com/overgeneralization-3024614 https://www.verywellmind.com/jumping-to-conclusions-2584181

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2021/09/mindsets-clearing-lens-life

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