Many of us develop certain thought patterns that contribute to our depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, and therefore also to our addictions. These thought patterns can be pervasive and can take over our thinking, impacting not only how we think and feel, but also how we behave, what choices we make, and how we go about living our lives. One of the most harmful of these patterns is our tendency to catastrophize. We tend to expect the worst. We turn small situations into huge problems. We think in terms of worst-case scenarios, unconsciously preventing ourselves from manifesting more positive outcomes. We jump to conclusions and make erroneous assumptions. We turn solvable issues into unresolvable dilemmas. We assume we have no recourse against the bad things that are happening to us. We feel powerless and victimized in our lives. We don’t realize the power we have to manifest our circumstances, and we don’t realize that when we catastrophize we not only impede our manifestation power, we work against ourselves and manifest the catastrophe we don’t want, rather than the desired outcome that we do want.
Many of us catastrophize because we have intense fears we haven’t confronted, fears of the future and all the uncertainty it holds, fear of failure, fear of loss. We’ve allowed our fears to hijack our thinking and to control how we look at things. This way of thinking is highly negative and pessimistic, making us more anxious and more depressed, and therefore more likely to turn to our drugs of choice for comfort, relief and escape. We lose our motivation and inspiration. We feel hopeless and defeated. We give up on ourselves. We fear the worst in terms of our recovery and assume we’ll always relapse. We stop trying to get better. We lose our connection to ourselves and to other people. We feel isolated and alone, fearing the worst and expecting a future of struggle and suffering. We’ve lost our ability to think positively, to be optimistic, and to hold onto hope. We’ve lost our faith.
We can transform any thought pattern and shed any limiting belief. When we catastrophize, we tend to believe we’re not strong enough, not worthy enough, not good enough to create the life we want for ourselves. Changing thought patterns entails becoming mindful of our current ways of thinking and then replacing them with healthier, more empowered ones. When we notice ourselves catastrophizing, we can practice thinking in terms of best-case scenarios instead. We can choose to think about all the things that could go right, all the miracles we might attract, all the exciting things we have to look forward to. The more we practice, the more this new way of thinking will take root in our minds, and soon we’ll notice our whole perspective changing, ultimately transforming our life experience.
At The Guest House Ocala, we have personal recovery experience and over 12 years in the recovery industry. We have helped countless people recover, and we’re here to help you too. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.