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How to keep from being negative about a future event?

Discussion in 'General Support and Advice' started by RemakeJake, Feb 6, 2016.

  1. RemakeJake

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    I'm going to Eurovision in Stockholm in April and May! I know that alone sounds like torture for some of you :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: but it's an absolute dream come true for me. Unfortunately, I can be a very negative and pessimistic person, and instead of thinking, "What am I going to wear? Where should I go out to eat?" and being excited beyonds words, I sit here wondering when something bad will strike. I'm very worried about something going wrong and ruining my trip/experience, like getting sick, which I do easily.

    When you have these negative thoughts that ruin your excitement and fun, how do you brush them aside? Thank you guys so much.
     
  2. Confusedmoose

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    I find that breathing exercises really help me to calm my negative thoughts.

    Now this all may sound silly (and it will) but it was told to me by a therapist during a course I took in mindfulness. She said that if you visualize your negative thought as a balloon and then visualize the balloon floating away it is supposed to help. This also may sound corny but it has helped me in the past. It's called worry time. Basically you time yourself for 15 minutes and during that time you let yourself worry as much as you can for the entire time. The trick is to pick an amount of time that is really long so that you'd get sick of worrying by the end of it. After that time is up you just don't allow yourself to worry. If a thought comes in your head you just say- I'll save it for my next worry time. Eventually you decrease the amount of time you give yourself. Or you could skip all that and just say I'll worry about it later.

    Have fun on your trip!