We have thousands of thoughts per day, and most of them are negative. The question is...do we listen to them? do we have to listen to them? The answer is "NO"
We need to challenge those negative narratives, we need to examine them and decide if they are useful or hindering our lives. For years I struggled with health/death anxiety where every little bump, pain, ache or bruise was cancer, or a heart attack, something that would surely kill me, this crippling narrative had been with me from the age of thirteen, it took a lot of work to remove those thoughts as they creeped into my mind daily for forty years. These intrusive thoughts don't have to be that severe, it could be something as simple as "I'm not going out with my friends tonight I feel unattractive", or "I hate going into work, as I know my boss hates me" or lying in bed at night with a million things you should have or need to do. Every single one of these thoughts can be challenged, Cognitive behavioural therapy is an evidence based therapy that has proven to be most effective with negative narratives. If your negative thoughts are ruling your life then think about CBT and challenging them, distance the person that is you from those unwanted thoughts..."You are not your thoughts"
