From ANTs at a Picnic to a Walk in the Woods

Mental Health Matters!
By Jennifer Cruze, MSW, LICSW, Mental Health Counselor with Swedish

Published in WHS "E-News from the Principal" January 31, 2020

From ANTs at a Picnic to a Walk in the Woods
 

NEGATIVE THINKING is something we all struggle with. Because our thoughts guide our behavior, thinking habits can have a big impact on our moods and lives. 

Introducing ANTs

Automatic Negative Thoughts: Our negative thoughts are just like ants at a picnic – there’s never just one! Much of the time, we aren’t aware of our negative thinking because we do it so often, and because we believe the negative thoughts.

Negative thinking is a habit, like so much that we do every day. Just like naturally picking up your phone every time you hear a ding, or the route you take from one class to another, the path of negative thinking becomes the easiest, most familiar path to take. The good news is that negative thinking habits are not permanent.

 

Trails in the Woods

Creating new thinking habits is difficult. It helps to think of the process like creating a new trail in the woods. JUST LIKE WALKING IN THE WOODS WHERE THERE IS NO TRAIL, THE MORE YOU WALK THAT SAME WAY, THE MORE YOU CREATE A VISIBLE PATH. IT BECOMES EASIER AND EASIER TO FOLLOW OVER TIME. Likewise, the more we think positively, the easier it becomes.

How do I get started?

  1. NOTICE the ANTs. It’s hard to change something if you don’t know it’s there.

  2. QUESTION if the thoughts are true. A lot of what we tell ourselves is false

  3. CHECK YOUR ENVIRONMENT. Do you hang around friends who are always negative? Does looking at certain Instagram profiles trigger negativity? What can you change about those?
  4. CREATE POSITIVITY around you. Maybe that means hanging around new people, giving up social media for a while, or even collecting inspiring quotes.
  5. REPLACE the ANTs with more realistic or neutral thoughts. 

Watch out for those ANTs and go blaze a new trail through the woods!

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results. – Willie Nelson

If you or a loved one are in crisis, call the Suicide Prevention Line at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text CONNECT to 741741.