Thinking about the past makes me very upset, but sometimes I can’t stop myself from reminiscing or thinking about it. Sometimes I think about it over and over, like a kind of addiction.
I am all for making sense of and working through the past… there is a point though where thinking about it more becomes obsessive.
When I find my thoughts spiraling over painful memories, I try to force myself to distraction, and deliberately change the mental subject, so to speak, as well as I can. I usually prefer TV, music, movies, or socializing and listening to other people for this, since they seem to be more distracting than reading (when reading I’ll often find my focus going back to the subject I don’t want to focus on).
@jedeyeyam - yeah, it does help to interact with people when you’re down. I think my problem is that I feel like a clam when I’m sad. I close up into my shell and ruminate over stupid stuff..
Ha. Maybe that’s why my close friends are all somewhat gloomy ;’D they don’t really mind that sort of thing. I.e. they don’t get alienated over sadness, disgust, and alienation. (I’m not sure if I read your situation correctly, whether it’s a clamming up because you worry about your effect on others, or if you just don’t feel outgoing when you’re gloomy, which is something everyone does— I just push myself out to socialize, a little, in those cases).
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I am all for making sense of and working through the past… there is a point though where thinking about it more becomes obsessive.
When I find my thoughts spiraling over painful memories, I try to force myself to distraction, and deliberately change the mental subject, so to speak, as well as I can. I usually prefer TV, music, movies, or socializing and listening to other people for this, since they seem to be more distracting than reading (when reading I’ll often find my focus going back to the subject I don’t want to focus on).
@jedeyeyam - yeah, it does help to interact with people when you’re down. I think my problem is that I feel like a clam when I’m sad. I close up into my shell and ruminate over stupid stuff..
Ha. Maybe that’s why my close friends are all somewhat gloomy ;’D they don’t really mind that sort of thing. I.e. they don’t get alienated over sadness, disgust, and alienation. (I’m not sure if I read your situation correctly, whether it’s a clamming up because you worry about your effect on others, or if you just don’t feel outgoing when you’re gloomy, which is something everyone does— I just push myself out to socialize, a little, in those cases).