Breaking the Cycle of Catastrophizing: CBT and Mental Rewiring

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the mental health today show.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm John Cordray, a licensed professional counselor, and I'm the host of this show.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome, my friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today we're going to dive into something that's links up on so many of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know that voice in your head that turns a

[SPEAKER_00]: and it goes something like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's say you're thinking about your career.

[SPEAKER_00]: My career is over.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll never recover and everyone will think, I'm a failure.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you thought that before?

[SPEAKER_00]: I bet you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're a busy professional, juggling deadlines, family, and that constant mental chatter, or if you feel like another mental health pro,

[SPEAKER_00]: This episode is for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to explore how catastrophizing a sneaky cognitive distortion drains our energy and how we can rewire it using practical CBT techniques.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now I want to make sure you're aware this is not therapy, you probably know that.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is just me talking to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am a licensed therapist.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do practice CBT principles every single day in my practice, but this is not therapy.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is just me talking to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm really glad that you're here.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to talk about building real emotional resilience and strengthening your cognitive skills for better anxiety, management and stress in coping strategies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sound like a good episode today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So by the end of this episode, you'll walk away with actionable coping skills that you can start using today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're driving or walking or dog or on the treadmill or whatever you're at, chances are you have come across this yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know we're talking about catastrophizing, but cognitive distortions is a general term.

[SPEAKER_00]: Talking about what I like to call thinking traps.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are thoughts that we have that we don't have evidence for, but we start to believe them anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when we believe them, they influence how we feel, which then ultimately influences how we behave and what we do with that information.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what happens is when you

[SPEAKER_00]: start to create a false narrative that turns into a false story line.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm talking about here.

[SPEAKER_00]: These pieces that you think are evidence that are not evidence, they're circumstantial evidence, but you think they are evidence that they're hard facts, but you don't have all the facts.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, that storyline that you're believing about yourself or even about someone else,

[SPEAKER_00]: But you're acting as if it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we're going to talk about today.

[SPEAKER_00]: This episode is specifically on catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is catastrophizing?

[SPEAKER_00]: And why does it hit so hard?

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[SPEAKER_00]: When you have a negative interaction with a cold worker, you feel like you're a terrible human being and no one likes you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you've thought that, I'm sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Catastrophysing is that classic cock and the distortion where your brain jumps straight to the worst case scenario even when the evidence says otherwise.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like your mind is directing a disaster movie and your unwilling star, you know what it's started in this movie.

[SPEAKER_00]: Albert Ellis, he's the guy behind a lot of CBT work,

[SPEAKER_00]: Those of us who are in the mental health field will know that name.

[SPEAKER_00]: He called it officeizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's awful, making something feel way more terrible than it actually is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think about this for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about work here.

[SPEAKER_00]: You send an email to your boss, but you don't hear back right away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of maybe they're in a meeting, your brain says, they hated it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm getting fired.

[SPEAKER_00]: My family restructural.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, don't live in a cardboard box.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the beginning of the end.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sound familiar?

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you been there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Periods of relatable story from my practice.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of my clients are high-achieving professionals.

[SPEAKER_00]: They work in some of the bigger companies that we would recognize today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, because of that, it's a high-energy, high-stressful job.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot is counting on them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had a client will call her Sarah, and she was a high-achieving marketing executive.

[SPEAKER_00]: One delay project turned into her imagining, getting demoted, losing her house, and ending up all alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: The actual issue, though, a minor timeline slip that got fixed in two days, but the catastrophes had already spiked her anxiety and left her completely exhausted, mentally and emotionally.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why does this matter for your mental health?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why even talk about catastrophizing in a first place?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm devoting an entire episode on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's because it happens so often and so frequently.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's part of the human condition.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're tend to be programmed to thinking about the worst case scenario.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like we're hard-wired for the worst case outcome, so we can be prepared.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the problem is, we think we're prepared, we think we're solving a problem that is not even a problem to solve.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have to worry about survival, most of us don't have to worry about survival.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet our mind goes there, even in small fractions of small interactions throughout our day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Katasurizing amps up our stress hormones that fuels our anxiety and wears down our emotional resilience over time.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a one and done, it's a continual process.

[SPEAKER_00]: A little bit here and a little bit there and you wake up and something happens and then two weeks later, something else happens, but then you remember what happened two weeks earlier and it feels like it's compounding and evidence, but it's not.

[SPEAKER_00]: It keeps us in that fight or flight mode.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know that mode, right, flight or freeze, but our body doesn't need to be in that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But our thinking tricks us to believing that we do need to be in a fire flight response.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the good news is our brains are wired for mental rewiring.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so even if you're a catastrophizer, even if you are a professional warrior, even if you think about the worst case scenario all the time, your brain can be rewired.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wouldn't that be nice?

[SPEAKER_00]: That rewiring that you may have heard this term before is Neuroplasticity.

[SPEAKER_00]: It means that we can train new pathways, new Neuropathways with consistent cognitive skills and CBT techniques.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm talking about CBT here.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the only mandality.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are lots of different modalities, different types of treatment when it comes to counseling.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here, CBT are techniques that are practical tips that you can do right there in home.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe you've done CBT treatment before or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: But these are things that are not complicated.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are things that you can work on.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to go into a therapy practice.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are things you can work on and train your brain over time.

[SPEAKER_00]: So before we get to some of those techniques so I want to talk about emotional resilience because that's really important to remember.

[SPEAKER_00]: Emotional resilience is your secret weapon that you probably don't realize you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's secret even for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Emotional resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks.

[SPEAKER_00]: They had a setback before.

[SPEAKER_00]: Things that didn't really go your way.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you're ended up being okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you figured it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just like you will from all the other setbacks that you'll face.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the ability to adapt to stress and keep moving forward without falling apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you are stuck in that catastrophizing loop, it feels like you're falling apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes when things don't go our way, it's compounded by other things that don't go our way.

[SPEAKER_00]: You ever been there, have you ever experienced one bad thing after another?

[SPEAKER_00]: I have clients all the time that seem to be in this loop, it's almost like Groundhog Day.

[SPEAKER_00]: One day it's a terrible day, and the next day it's another terrible day.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's one terrible thing that happens on top of the other, and sometimes it feels like the world is falling apart right beneath your feet.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might be going through that right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a very real feeling.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your feelings are valid here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to make that very, very clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: How you feel is valid.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not talking about, while you should just change your feelings.

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I'm talking about is working on your thoughts and challenging those thoughts.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might be going through one terrible thing after another.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I like to call this terrible season with my clients, I call it the season of suck.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see, isn't of suck.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of these days, I'm going to do an episode and I'm going to just call it the season of suck.

[SPEAKER_00]: The season of suck goes something like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: You acknowledge that life sucks, what you're experiencing sucks, but it doesn't last forever because it's a season.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tomorrow's a new day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, tomorrow could bring more suck, but eventually you're going to get through the season of suck.

[SPEAKER_00]: And on the other side of that season of suck is emotional resilience.

[SPEAKER_00]: So all the sucky things that you're going through right now is building up that emotional resilience that you may not even realize you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's that secret weapon that I talked about.

[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually you're going to recover faster.

[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually you're going to be able to learn from past mistakes, past failures, and not take it personal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wouldn't that be nice?

[SPEAKER_00]: People with strong emotional resilience can handle life's curve balls better.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not about avoiding them.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about how to handle them.

[SPEAKER_00]: their sleep is a little better.

[SPEAKER_00]: They maintain relationships better.

[SPEAKER_00]: They even perform stronger at work.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're more optimistic and happy and content.

[SPEAKER_00]: The life is not perfect, but they don't look at the things that make it unperfect, more than the things that make it perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, what you choose to focus on, even when things are hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: The benefits of emotional resilience, well, I don't know if I need to lay it out, but there are lots of benefits here, and you probably understand them.

[SPEAKER_00]: You reduce your burnout, if you're burnt out on life, burnt out on your job, burnt out on relationships, burnt out of anything, it's because over time, bad things continue to happen, and you can't see any good out of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: that's burnout.

[SPEAKER_00]: The worst case of burnout that I have heard is when people have to go to the hospital and the hospital admits them and become a patient because their burnout is affecting them physically as well as emotionally.

[SPEAKER_00]: People shut down.

[SPEAKER_00]: I use the analogy with my clients all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine you have a car, maybe it's an old car, and it's sitting up on sender blocks.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's off the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the accelerator is pushed to the max.

[SPEAKER_00]: The wheels are spinning very, very fast.

[SPEAKER_00]: The engine is roaring, but it's not going anywhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: over time that engine is going to explode, over time the car is just going to shut down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not only is it not going anywhere, it's shut down completely, very little functioning is involved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes that happens to people.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you say that you're burnt out, but you

[SPEAKER_00]: you're going to shut down.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not good for anybody.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you want to learn how to train your brain, rewire your brain even when things are difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't change what life throws at you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't avoid it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can try.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you can't.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so your options are very limited here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what I am suggesting, the best option is to face it head on, retrain your brain and your thoughts and focus on what you can do rather than what you can't do.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are some things that are within your control and other things that are not in your control.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there are things that we think we're in control but we're not, really, in that in control.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we want to work on developing a better anxiety management here.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to learn how to cope with anxiety.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to develop anxiety coping skills.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to work on a calmer baseline, even though some days suck.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to reach that baseline of calm.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's the relatable part here, building that emotional baseline.

[SPEAKER_00]: It feels a lot like going to the gym.

[SPEAKER_00]: It takes practice, but the results compound.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another example that I use often is that growth is a lot like planning a garden.

[SPEAKER_00]: We never, at least, I don't think we do, we never plant our garden.

[SPEAKER_00]: wake up and go out and look at it the next day and get disappointed that we don't see our plans growing.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we understand that it takes time to grow.

[SPEAKER_00]: We understand that it's not an instantaneous thing to plan a garden in the next day reap the rewards from it.

[SPEAKER_00]: your emotional resilience doesn't work that way, either.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I'm suggesting here to counter your catastrophizing is not easy, it's very difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to comprehend, it's not rocket science, but try to put it to practice and you'll realize how difficult it really is, but it's not impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: When your default is always thinking of the negative, it's all you ever thought of.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's all of your parents' ever thought of.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just negative, negativity all the time, expecting a worst, but hoping for the best.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you live that way, it changes you from the inside out.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're living in fear, if you're catastrophizing all the time, it'll change you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever had anyone tell you you're awfully pessimistic, maybe negative, maybe people tell you that you're hard to be around sometimes, because all you talk about are the bad things, your critical of others, your critical of yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: That changes you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you are like that, people are likely to avoid you, or at least not develop strong relationships with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so my guess is if that's you, if you are a negative person and always catastrophizing and living in fear and it comes out, what you say, how you say it and how you act, you're probably lonely.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a byproduct of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Learn to rewire your brain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ignalage how you feel, but rewire your thinking into more positive.

[SPEAKER_00]: At least evidence focused.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I'm choosing to believe the best.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's different.

[SPEAKER_00]: And guess what, that will change you as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can rewire your brain and win you are more optimistic, more outgoing, more happy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can be happy even when things are not going well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Life can suck and you can still be happy.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been to Jamaica many, many times and I went and worked in an orphanage.

[SPEAKER_00]: and the people who worked there, the adults who worked at the orphanage, and the kids had absolutely nothing to their name.

[SPEAKER_00]: And guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: They were smiling, they were happy, they were singing, they were joyful.

[SPEAKER_00]: The human capacity and the human spirit is remarkable.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's what you tend to choose to focus on, and that, my friends, is all in your ability.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can decide.

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever noticed how some people seem to shake off a bad meeting and then move on while others replay it for days?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's often the difference in emotional resilience.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so let's move on to the heart of today's episode.

[SPEAKER_00]: Evidence-based CBT techniques to rewire catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are things that you can do at home.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I want to offer disclaimer here.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not therapy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not my client.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can choose whether to do this or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are just practical cognitive skills that you can use anywhere anytime.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first one is called cognitive restructuring.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's basically catching, checking, and changing those disorder thoughts.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like I was talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But here's a simple for step process that you can try.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first one is to identify it as an automatic thought, to thought, not to feelings, not evidence of the thought.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you feel that spike of anxiety, pause, and name it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, here I go, catastrophizing again, you name it, name it, thought it, you're catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's the worst case story my brain has tell me right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, then check the evidence, ask yourself this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't just ruminate on the catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Keep going, keep digging.

[SPEAKER_00]: Check the evidence, ask yourself what facts what evidence supports this.

[SPEAKER_00]: What facts don't support this?

[SPEAKER_00]: How likely is this catastrophe really on the scale of one to ten to happen?

[SPEAKER_00]: Most of the time it's closer to two than it is to nine.

[SPEAKER_00]: How about this?

[SPEAKER_00]: D-contasturfize it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Use what if?

[SPEAKER_00]: a what if technique can be really powerful?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's more being curious.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, what if the worst case scenario happened?

[SPEAKER_00]: What if it came true?

[SPEAKER_00]: How would I cope?

[SPEAKER_00]: What resources do I have right now to help with that?

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll often realize you're more capable than your brain gives you credit for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are very, very resilient.

[SPEAKER_00]: The human beings are very, very resilient.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens is when you start to believe you're not, and you give into that belief, that false belief.

[SPEAKER_00]: So replace that thought with a boundless thought like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Turn, this is a total disaster into, this is annoying, yeah, but I've handled worse.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've had it worse before.

[SPEAKER_00]: have a plan and I'll figure it out this time too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love sharing this with clients because it feels so empowering to be able to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen it happen right in the middle of a session.

[SPEAKER_00]: People get it when I explain this to them and they're able to say, wow, I was catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can name it and I can turn it around.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now I don't have to rumenate on it, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another busy professional I worked with was using this during a performance review.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you are in a larger company, you understand the stress and some of the anxiety that can come from a performance review.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of spiraling into, I'm getting fired, I just know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He reframed it into, this is feedback data.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can use this to grow.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can use this to improve.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, that's what reviews are for.

[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes when we're really negative, when you think negative about it, we think reviews are only designed to demodus, to fire us, and to point out why we're a terrible human being.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see the difference there in thinking?

[SPEAKER_00]: When his stress dropped, he actually got promoted, instead of demoted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that happened so often.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's another powerful technique.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's called decatasturizing Thought Records.

[SPEAKER_00]: Grab a notebook or use the note app on your phone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Write a situation which is the catastrophic thought.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then look at your emotion.

[SPEAKER_00]: How am I feeling?

[SPEAKER_00]: Write it intensity from, I don't know, zero to 100.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why not?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go all the way to 100.

[SPEAKER_00]: Write it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then write down the evidence for the catastrophizing and against it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then finally, write a more realistic alternative.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's another way of thinking about the situation instead of catastrophizing?

[SPEAKER_00]: write it down.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's something powerful about writing it down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do a few times a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do it as often as you can.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think you'll notice that your cognitive skills are sharpening and you're starting to build the emotional resilience and rewiring your brain that can change you can transform you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like being your own thought detective minus the trench coat in a magnifying glass.

[SPEAKER_00]: Unless, of course, you really are a detective.

[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, so now let's layer in some stress coping strategies and coping skills.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a support your mental rewiring and build emotional resilience even more.

[SPEAKER_00]: First,

[SPEAKER_00]: breathing and grounding for the moment the spiral starts.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you catch yourself feeling very anxious or very stressed, maybe your heart races, your mind goes blank or maybe your mind is racing along with your heart is racing and you feel panicky.

[SPEAKER_00]: About the faint.

[SPEAKER_00]: Try the deep breathing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I call it smell the flowers blow out the candles.

[SPEAKER_00]: You may have heard me talk about it before.

[SPEAKER_00]: Inhale through your nose with your mouth shut, but inhale deeply as much as you can you're going to fill up your lungs.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then hold your breath for two to four seconds.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to exhale, blow it out of your mouth as long and hard as you can.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like blowing out all of the candles on your birthday cake and for some of us, that's a lot of candles.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the point is, you're being intentional on your breathing and try it eight times in a row very slowly.

[SPEAKER_00]: It calms your nervous system fast and it gives your cognitive skills a chance to kick

[SPEAKER_00]: you're treating a very physical sensation with a physical response, and you're acknowledging that there's a strong mind-body connection, and there is, and now you have a tool that you can use the next time you start the panic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another one I want to bring out, I alluded to this earlier, it's gratitude in a mindful practice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we have to be very intentional, very mindful of being grateful, being thankful for the things that we have.

[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like humans tend to gravitate to the things we don't have, or the things we want to have.

[SPEAKER_00]: rather than focusing on the things that we actually do have.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those kids in Jamaica at the orphanage, they had nothing, but they focused on what they did have and that was each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was life, they had a new day.

[SPEAKER_00]: People came to see them and they visit them.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they chose to focus on.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what you need to focus on, but I need to focus on.

[SPEAKER_00]: When things are sucky,

[SPEAKER_00]: That's when we need to focus on those good things even more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Try this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's another mindful practice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Each evening, every evening, jot down the three things that went okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even small ones, like, ah, I had a good cup of coffee today.

[SPEAKER_00]: This shifts your brain away from scanning for disasters and toward what is actually working.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's actually happening in your life right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Research shows that boost emotional resilience over time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Practice that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Practicing gratitude and thankfulness in your day, even for little things, especially little things, can help reshape everything in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another one is called behavioral activation.

[SPEAKER_00]: got to get moving.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what happens when you feel like you can't do anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you have no motivation, you have no purpose, you have no desire to get things done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Logically, you know you need to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're kitchen as full of dirty dishes or you have clothes and a dryer that still need to be folded.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you just need to pick up from the night before.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you don't want to.

[SPEAKER_00]: because you're in a season of suck, it drains the whole life out of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your desires, your motivation, your willingness to do the things that are not fun, but you're willing to do them anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you're going to a season of suck, you don't want to do anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: I get it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I get it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been there even.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you got to remember to keep moving forward, even if you don't like it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Move, get out of bed, go to the kitchen, and just start working on those dishes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Get the clothes out of the dryer and fold them, put them away.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know you don't feel like it, but when you get them accomplished, you have a sense of accomplishment.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you'll be glad that you did it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's over.

[SPEAKER_00]: Done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably take you 20 minutes, maybe a little less.

[SPEAKER_00]: And later on, you'll be glad that you did.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've done this before.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have done things that you didn't really want to do, but when you did them, you were glad that you did them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's behavior activation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Going for a short walk, doing yoga, or even stretching and can interrupt a catastrophizing and release feel good chemicals in our brain.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the key here.

[SPEAKER_00]: The secret weapon that I was talking about is inside us, we can't see it, we feel it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's those feel good hormones that were created and we have in our brains, we just have to activate them and moving and doing the things intentionally will activate them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's social connection.

[SPEAKER_00]: I often talk about my big five.

[SPEAKER_00]: My big five, they're all holistic, and they don't cost anything, but they are very powerful.

[SPEAKER_00]: The big five is exercise, getting sleep, drinking water, eating healthy, and social connections.

[SPEAKER_00]: reach out to a friend or even a colleague and just say, hey, my brain is doing what it does best sometimes and I'm catastrophizing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm thinking about the worst case scenario again.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we talk it through?

[SPEAKER_00]: Coal regulating with an individual and that is simply

[SPEAKER_00]: does wonders because you're talking about it, you're sharing how you're feeling, but you're also looking at the other person and how they respond.

[SPEAKER_00]: And those social cues can be very comforting and encouraging.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you share something that you're going through, it sucks.

[SPEAKER_00]: And another person said, yeah, that sucks.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've gone through it too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Made a connection.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that helps bring it down and normalizing it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it's not that big of an issue because now all of a sudden you're not the only one that's been there and going through that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to just encourage you that making these coping skills a part of your daily routine, it's not just when things are getting bad, it's not that, it's not an emergency packet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now it's a daily routine, make this a part of your lifestyle.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you'll find that it will change everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Consistency is key for lasting mental rewiring.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's a quick case story to bring it all home.

[SPEAKER_00]: Meet Mike.

[SPEAKER_00]: A therapist who was catastrophizing about client outcomes and his own practice growth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, obviously, I'm not going to disclose anything here, but this is a person that I'm saying, Mike, he uses these CBT techniques, plus daily breathing and gratitude, he rewired his thinking, and guess what, within weeks his emotional resilience improved?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, even therapist.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you are a...

[SPEAKER_00]: a small business owner, whether your therapist or not, and you are trying to grow your business.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you rely on clients or customers to grow your business.

[SPEAKER_00]: That can be stressful.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to be thinking about, oh my gosh, something terrible is going to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have enough clients or customers to pay my bills.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: even therapist experienced that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Within weeks as emotional resilience improved, he felt more present with his clients, and guess what, less burned out.

[SPEAKER_00]: He even started teaching these tools to his own clients.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therapist, we need to practice what we preach.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: So take a second right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's one area in your life

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's not about you personally, but maybe it's a child.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're worried about your child.

[SPEAKER_00]: What they're going to do with their life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe your child is struggling with their mental health.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's an adult child, perhaps.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're living on their own and they're struggling.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to be a young adult right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: What area in your life are you catastrophizing about?

[SPEAKER_00]: who's the health issues are struggling.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to catastrophize there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're a young business professional or you just graduated college and you're catastrophizing because you can't find a job.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it shows up a lot in a lot of areas.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many the coping skills of I just talked about changed that for you?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not instantaneous.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're playing a garden, but how can help you right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you recognize that your thoughts are catastrophizing and are changing you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do something about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey friends, if you're finding these stress coping strategies helpful, I love for you to support the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: Would you mind leaving a review?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what helps me grow.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you have a few seconds, please go and remember this www.mentohel today show.com slash rate the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: www.mentohel today show.com slash rate the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please leave me a rating and a review.

[SPEAKER_00]: It helps me reach more people who need these tools.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you help me with that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, I appreciate that.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, wow, so we covered a lot today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope it's been helpful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's quickly recap the key takeaways here from how to rewire catastrophizing, build emotional resilience in cognitive skills.

[SPEAKER_00]: First recognize that catastrophizing as a common cognitive distortion diffules unnecessary anxiety and stress.

[SPEAKER_00]: Second, understand that emotional resilience is a skill you can build.

[SPEAKER_00]: It helps you recover faster and handle life's challenges with more ease.

[SPEAKER_00]: Third, use CBT techniques like cognitive restructuring to challenge those thoughts and strength in your cognitive skills.

[SPEAKER_00]: In finally, layer in practical coping skills and stress coping strategies like breathing, gratitude, movement, and connection for ongoing anxiety management and mental rewiring.

[SPEAKER_00]: The main message here is that you don't have to let catastrophize and run the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: With consistent practice, you can rewire your brain, boost your emotional resilience and show up as the calm, capable version of yourself that you know you are, or that you want to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: My challenge to you this week is to pick one of these techniques or coping skills and try it every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Notice what shifts, you've got this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Notice your thoughts, notice your emotions, notice your behavior, and if these topics resonate, subscribe, follow the show, I wanna help you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been doing this for a long, long time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna help you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna give you future episodes, full of other practical mental wellness insights.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you think about it, this has been helpful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Share the episode, share the show with others.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would help that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to plug it one more time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please rate in review the show at www.mentoheldtodayshow.com slash rate the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your feedback helps the show grow and keeps great conversations like this coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to keep them coming right to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's all for now, my friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the mental health today's show.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good day and good night.