Picked up a random poetry book From the crowded shelf. Quick easy hour read: Delight and wonder. Then, Found…
Hindered by Rumination
Hypothetical scenario: You are watching a really good television show, only the episode is to be continued. The next one is not out for another week. Five hours later, you awake to find yourself going over possible plot twists the show might take next. You drive yourself crazy so much so that before you know it your alarm is going off to get up for work.
Sound familiar? This has happened to me countless times. Most of the time, I am not analyzing t.v., but my own life, especially something to happen the next day. The first day of school or a new job is a common problem even though I am old enough to know everything will work out one way or another.
During the day, I have this problem that when left alone and trying to do something useful with my time, I find that I am often ruminating on other things and have to keep refocusing on the task at hand. This drives me mad! This may also be why I was recently diagnosed with ADHD to go along with my anxiety and depression.
Sometimes, playing soft music helps to distract my brain and keeps me focused. Other times, I have to just give in and write down what my brain will not stop thinking about. Sometimes too, I text my husband to break up the craziness that is my mind.
Peg Strep, from psychologytoday.com, says, “The work of Daniel Wegner on ‘white bears’—the thoughts we try to suppress but can’t—has illuminated the process by which the mind unconsciously searches for the very thoughts we’re trying not to think about. It turns out that the more we try not to think, the more we’ll actually be thinking those thoughts.” Oh great! I am constantly trying to sabotage myself then.
Rumination is my wicked curse, especially when it wakes me up at night. Last night, I woke up stressed about the Girl Scout event I am hosting tonight at a local family fun place. My brain played out all of the scenarios for what could go wrong. For example, I am going to have problems checking us in and the girls are going to end up sitting on the floor near the game machines, instead of actually getting to play them; I saw myself talking with the young staff and not being able to get them to understand the difficulty with our registration and how the girls were wasting their three hours allotted for the group price. All the while, my heart worked overtime; I tossed and turned for probably a good twenty minutes before I became aware enough to realize I could change what I was dreaming about in order to sleep peacefully again.
To help defeat rumination, Margaret Wehrenberg suggests, “Rumination can be switched off by two good methods: Get out of the negative neural networks. Tackle one problem at a time with planning.” She also suggests listening to music, going for a peaceful walk, or talking to a friend. All good advice, except at 4 am when I don’t want to walk or talk, just go back to sleep.
Instead of ruminating at all hours of the night, one thing I can try is to make a plan for how I am going to tackle the potential problems the next day. Breaking apart worries to find possible causes and solutions are effective. I should keep a notepad by my bed if I wake up and need to overcome whatever worry has interrupted my sleep. Wehrenberg further states, “Try to unhook problems from each other to see if you have an actual problem you can solve or just a worry to eliminate.”
Nonetheless, I know there is always a reason why my thoughts tend to work against me. What I need to remember daily is to take control of my thought processes. If I have a problem, there is always a solution to fix it. If I can’t find a solution, then I can talk to someone else to get their ideas.
The point is never let yourself go crazy by your own rumination! Seek help and improve your own life.
Here is a useful video:
Blessings to you friends!
References:
Strep, Peg. “5 Steps to a Fresh Start…” Psychology Today, 20 Mar 2014. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-support/201403/5-steps-fresh-start
Wehrenberg, Margaret. “Rumination: A Problem in Anxiety and Depression”. Psychology Today, 20 Apr 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/depression-management-techniques/201604/rumination-problem-in-anxiety-and-depression