Finding Peace: A Journey Through Anxious Thoughts
How many times have anxious thoughts overwhelmed our mind? I doubt any of us can say we've never experienced them. It's something we all face at some point, and it can feel exhausting. The feelings and thoughts of unease, uncertainty, fear, worry, nervousness comes to all of us. Anxious thoughts aren’t always bad, they can help us act and make better choices for our future. Growing up, I remember hearing my mum use the idiom ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ which according to the Cambridge Dictionary means “that every difficult or unpleasant situation has some advantage”, but many times negative thoughts can hold us captive and spiral us into negative thinking patterns and emotions.
Have you ever had someone say “Stop being a worry wart” or “I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach” or “My heart was in my mouth” describing anxious moments. Anxious thoughts are when your mind starts worrying about things that might happen, even if there's no real reason to be nervous. It’s like you start imagining the worst-case scenario, the ‘what if’s’ — what if this goes wrong, or what if I mess up? These thoughts can be exhausting and make us feel tense, restless, or even like something bad is about to happen, even though it might not. It's like your mind is on high alert, and it can be hard to quiet it down.
When it comes to dealing with anxious thoughts, one of the most helpful things we can do is:
1. Recognize and Acknowledge - When anxious thoughts hit us, the first step I encourage my clients to take is to acknowledge the thought. It's easy to try to push it away, but that thought then will often drive us without even realizing it — like being in a car and heading toward a traffic light without really noticing. By pausing and acknowledging the thought, we can take control again. Those racing thoughts may feel overwhelming, but they’re just thoughts—and that’s okay. When we acknowledge them, we can breathe, calm down, and remember that we’re the ones in the driver’s seat, not the anxious thought.
2. Examine the Truth of it - The second step, is to challenge gently the truth behind the thought. Anxious thoughts often come so quickly that we don’t stop to ask ourselves if they’re true. It’s important to take a moment and ask: Is this thought based on real evidence, or is it just my mind overthinking? When we don’t challenge these thoughts, they can start to feel like truth, even though they’re not.
3. Replacing the Thought - The third step is to replace the thought (which is likely a lie) with a more truthful one. Once we have acknowledged it and examine the truth of it then we can look at replacing it. This can be tricky, and sometimes we need to be intentional about it. It may take practice, especially if we've spent much of our lives carrying negative or anxious thoughts.
As a Christian, I find peace by remembering God’s truth and who I am in Christ. When anxious thoughts creep in, I quietly repeat scripture, especially from Psalms, like a reassuring playlist in my mind. It helps me to cast my worries on Christ and find a sense of calm, reminding me that I’m not alone in this.
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength”. Commonly attributed to Charles Spurgeon, this quote gently reminds me that anxious thoughts don’t really help with my future —they just drain my energy today. When I let go of these worrying thoughts (as hard as that can be), I can be a bit calmer and find strength to face what’s right in front of me. What might it take for you to let go of some of those anxious thoughts and find a little more peace?