As a writer, you can easily fall into a pattern of negative thinking. Some days you may think that you’ll never make it in the writing world, that your work stinks and no one will ever want to read it. Many times this thought pattern may come about as a result of what is going on in your life. There may be absolutely nothing wrong with your writing, but because you are overwhelmed, anxious or stressed out in other areas of your life, everything looks bad, including your writing.
Fortunately, when this happens there are a few things you can do to bring those negative thoughts under control:
1. Take a break. How long this break lasts depends on how you feel when you get back to your work. If when you get back your mood is still the same, push the work aside. No point forcing yourself to write when your mood isn’t helping.
2. Find another activity. Read a book. Reading is excellent for projecting your thoughts into another dimension. If you are a writer, you should be reading a lot. Take advantage of this down time to catch up on some reading. Can’t concentrate? Then go for a walk, swim, ride your bike or watch a movie.
3. Avoid negative influences. If there’s something or someone in your environment that is contributing to these negative emotions you may have to distance yourself from them. If you are around folks who are always complaining and finding fault with everything, you’ll soon find yourself imitating them. Get some positive influences in your life.
4. Don’t reveal everything. You may have to keep your dreams, goals, aspirations under wraps until you know where you are headed. Don’t show your work-in-progress to everyone. Read it to your mummy, your dog or your cat; they’ll love it. This is not being paranoid; it’s being levelheaded.
Negative emotions can catch the best of us unawares, but once you spot them, you have to drive them away. What do you do when negative thinking takes hold of your mind? Drop me a line then hop on over to other bloggers in the A – Z challenge by clicking on the button to the right.
