What to do with Racing Thoughts
If you know me, you know that I love superhero shows and movies. Action movies are my favorites of all time. Theres nothing like some unrealistic superpowers and scenarios to fascinate me to no end. But there is one superpower that always makes me a little nervous. Even though I know it’s not real and there’s no way it could ever be real it STILL would be my worst nightmare. You want to know what it is?
Mind reading. Yep! Not for any weird reasons other than my mind can be a total train wreck of ideas and to-dos and just about anything else. Honestly, there is chance that people might think me insane if they knew how much went through my head at all times. My husband jokes with me about this because often we will be driving (usually on our way to church) and I am just switching from subject to subject in our conversation and he can barely keep up.
“Welcome to a peek inside my brain,” I’ll joke. Which, sometimes it is funny. Sometimes it’s helpful to be able to connect dots quickly or think fast when needed. But other times, when my thoughts are racing and I’m having a hard time reigning them in, I can get easily overwhelmed and I don’t know what to do with them.
This is usually where distractions come in. Instead of dealing with my racing thoughts, I can just put on a true crime podcast or work harder or scroll instagram reels for far too long or keep telling Netflix “I’m still here” so I can get to the next episode.
But the problem is, the anxious thoughts may get quieter, but they don’t go away unless I do something with them.
The obvious solution to this is to watch what you are putting in your brain. As easy as it might be to binge your guilty pleasure every night or ignore your needs and your desires, those thoughts and feelings won’t go anywhere unless you do something with them.
The best solution is to GET THEM OUT. Start with talking to someone you trust. It could be a friend or a therapist (I recommend the latter, just because they can help give you tools to help that your friends may not have access to, but either one is better than nothing) and the next thing may be a way to help you sort through the messes when no one else is around.
Enter Dump Journaling. (I don’t think this is the technical term, but this is what we are going with today. Trust me, this is will make more sense as you read on…)
You’ve heard me talk about journaling before, but this journaling is different. This isn’t structured, its VERY imperfect, and is meant to have one reason and one reason only- to get the thoughts out of your head and onto a sheet of paper.
This is how it works: You sit down and set a timer. Maybe start with 5 minutes and slowly add more time as you would like. Once you set the timer, put your pen to the paper and just write. Don’t stop. Don’t correct yourself or cross out things or worry about spelling or punctuation. Just go for it. Write out everything that’s in your head for the full time without stopping. You will probably sound crazy and most it may not make sense, but just do it and see how you feel.
I guarantee that you will feel lighter when you’re done. Maybe it will take a few tries, but for me, it literally makes my shoulders relax when I am finished.
Here are some things to do to make it successful:
Use a cheap notebook for this. That way, you won’t feel overly pressured to write perfectly or think too much about what you are putting in it.
These pages are a NO JUDGE ZONE. Don’t go back and read and judge everything you wrote. Trust yourself that what you write is what you needed to get out.
Don’t focus on spelling, punctuation, being clear, or having any agenda other than listening to your thoughts and letting them out.
Don’t read back over it for a few days. Give yourself some space before you go back through and read your entries.
Give this a shot. Especially if you are a person who likes the idea of journaling more than actually doing it and you deal with anxiety or racing thoughts.
I don’t ever want to pretend like I am a professional and I am not one to prescribe anything for anxiety. Anything I share on this subject are things that have helped me in this area of my life.
So what do you say? Give it a shot and see how it goes. Commit to 5 minutes every day for a week and see what happens after that. I’ll do it with you!
Here are some questions to help you get started:
What is on your mind right now?
Describe the last time you were scared.
Describe a time recently when you were happy.
Let me know if you give this a try!
You’ve got this!
Stay Brave Babes-
Sarah G.
